Dear Cherry Blossom
by SkyKat
Summary: Ninja life, a failing marriage, betrayal, a cleverly formulated plan, and an advice column. SasuIno, SasuSaku, and others. Updates in my Bio. New Chap!
1. Uchiha marital problems

**Dear cherry blossom** a.k.a **Sweet Serenity**

**Update: For those who already read this chap, scroll to bottom for special message.**

_A/N_:This is rated for mild lemons, language, and some violence. If you're going to leave a critical review, please let me know ways that I can improve the story. This was inspired by actual events. (Yes… ACTUAL events.) The names were changed to protect me from getting my butt kicked.

_Summery:_ Angst, drama, ramen, blah, blah, blah. Sasuke is the village's greatest ninja and he deserves to be treated as such. Sasuke and Ino's marriage is falling apart and now Sasuke's eye is starting to wander. Sakura is a successful advice columnist who's going to use her expertise to wreck a little havoc for them. Naruto still loves Sakura and has formulated a plan to win her over. It's a strange situation, but everything will turn out ok…right?

_Disclaimer: _I don't own Naruto

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****Chapter 1:** Uchiha marital problems 

"What the hell is taking you so long? When are you coming to bed?" Sasuke asked his wife in a loud voice so she could hear him through the bathroom door.

"Quit rushing me!" she answered back in an even louder voice as she continued what she was doing. Sasuke had the need for a little sexual satisfaction but this woman had picked the wrong time (like always) to be doing all of her nightly rituals. Sasuke didn't like wasting his energy and losing control when it came to matters as trivial as this, but his wife was royally pissing him off at the moment.

"Will you get out of there?" This time Sasuke was banging on the door with one hand and violently shaking the knob with the other. "I'll break this damn door down if I have to!" Fed up with the noise, his wife slightly opened the door allowing Sasuke to peer through the crack. He couldn't see very much so he wedged his hands into the crack and tried to pry the door open. He opened the door a little wider only to have a huge bottle of lotion chucked hard at his head. He growled in pain just before the door slammed shut again once the pitcher was certain that she hit her target.

"I said quit rushing me!" The angry voice from inside of the bathroom shouted. The clicking noise of the lock coming from the other side of the bathroom door confirmed that Sasuke had no other option but to wait. Too proud to rub the dull ache on his forehead even though there was no one else in the room, Sasuke walked over to the bed and sat down. Deep inside he knew that his waiting would be pointless because she always spent at least two hours getting ready for bed every night.

Sasuke never understood why females took just as long to get ready for bed as they did getting ready in the morning. Why couldn't women be more like men when it came to stuff like this? When he used live in an apartment with two other males and was forced to share one bathroom, all it took was twenty minutes for all of them to be in and out even though they went in 1 by 1. (Except for a few times when one of them would go in with one of those adult novels that Kakashi was always reading and would stay in the bathroom for at least an hour.) But now he was living with a woman…a woman who took two hours every night doing only the gods know what to herself.

He drummed his fingers on the nearby nightstand and tried, but to no avail, to get him mind off of his hard-on bulging through his sweatpants. His urges weren't planning on going away anytime soon and he was aching below his waistline. He hated the thought of being forced to satisfy himself. He had a woman for that. A highly uncooperative woman. A woman who was not giving him the kind off attention that he needed.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why now, Ino? Why these stupid female habits now!"

Until she could pry herself away from the magnetic force that held her in there (which was most likely her own reflection in the mirror), Sasuke had no choice but to lay his head back and stare at the ceiling. After the excitement of that activity wore off, he started shifting his eyes around the room. That was when he spotted a picture frame with his wedding photo sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. He picked it up and studied it carefully while thinking about his wife.

She is extremely beautiful. Her long blonde hair, blue eyes, and slender figure almost drove him crazy whenever he looked at her. She also has the amazing ability to juggle being one of the top female ninjas in the village, working tirelessly at her family's flower shop, and taking care of the house everyday. Yep, she would seem almost perfect except for one problem…she' s a BITCH. For the past year and a half that they have been married, she has been a self-centered, arrogant, cold-hearted bitch.

Although he had no problem admitting that he loved her, he didn't know how much more of her he could take. It seemed that he could barely even breathe without her finding a good reason to scream at him. As if his life wasn't hard enough, he now had to put up with the fact that they were constantly arguing, they hardly ever spent time together, she always chewed him out whenever other women so much as looked at him, and she was always competing with him on the training grounds and during missions. Hardly a day went by that he did not ask himself how he ever got himself into this mess…this situation that continuously challenged his masculinity.

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Ino stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror in frustration. "Why does he have to act like this? Must we go through this every night?" She calmed herself down and stepped back in order to get a look at herself. "Damn I'm gorgeous." She said with a smirk as she ran a brush through her waist length hair. She knew that she shouldn't be so stuck on her looks, but she couldn't help it. Why did she have to be so damn irresistible? There was no doubt in her mind that her physical beauty played a role in helping to get the man of her dreams, and tomorrow she would have to put her good looks to use again. 

She needed to do something more in order to win help her family win over a potential client at the flower shop. For the first time they were meeting with a major tycoon whose daughter was getting married in a few weeks and needed the best floral arrangements he could find. This person is well known as tough negotiator and would find any reason (even if the person's physical appearance wasn't to his liking) to turn down a business deal.

"This isn't working." Ino put her brush down and grabbed a jar from under the sink. "I guess I have to pull out the heavy artillery for this."

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Sasuke put the picture back on the nightstand, closed his eyes, and took the opportunity to contemplate if that bottle of lotion his wife had so lovingly gave to him was supposed to be some kind of hint. He didn't want to resort to pleasing himself but his urges were getting the better of him and he knew that he would not be able to hold out for the next 2 hours. "Ah shit." He slid his hand under the waistline of his pants and firmly gripped himself. 

Surprisingly about 15 minutes later, much to Sasuke's relief, the recognizable clicking sound of the door unlocking and the knob turning interrupted his session of self-indulgence--er--train of thought. "_About damn time_" Sasuke thought to himself as Ino slowly pulled the door open and stepped one foot into the bedroom. Before Sasuke could prepare himself, he was greeted with the shocking site of Ino in her bathrobe with her hair curled up in rollers and this green sludge all over her face. Needless to say, Sasuke's urges quickly disappeared.

"What the hell are you doing to yourself now?" Sasuke's eyes widened to 3 times their normal size.

"What the hell are you talking about? I need to look nice for tomorrow!" Ino yelled back as she walked closer to the bed. She was doing all of the yelling while Sasuke spoke in his same monotone voice. Sasuke always spoke this way during an argument because he knows it pisses Ino off even further.

"For goodness sake you're a ninja. Who's going to care about your appearance?" He couldn't help but raise his voice a little here.

"If you paid any kind of attention to me you would have remembered that my family and I have a very important guest coming into the shop tomorrow!"

"No one cares about your vain ass in the shop either."

"Oh, shut up and go to sleep!" The rage in Ino's eyes nearly burned a hole through Sasuke's chest.

Ino climbed into bed next to Sasuke and closed her eyes. Sasuke wanted to do the same but he couldn't take his eyes off his wife. "_How could she possibly sleep like that?"_ That ragged old bathrobe made his skin itch, those boulder sized rollers she was resting on made his head hurt, and that green sludge on her face was beginning to rub off on the pillow. He couldn't bring himself to kiss her goodnight in fear of that slime oozing past his lips and into his mouth. On top of that, he did not understand how Ino could stand that disgusting smell of clay that wafted through the air.

A few minutes later the smell began to take it's toll on him. He felt the chunks form in the pit of his stomach. Beads of sweat formed on his head and tears began to well up in his eyes. His heart thumped in his chest whenever he heard the rustle of the rollers caused by Ino shifting against her pillow. Then she suddenly rolled closer to where his hand was resting and he touched her cheek. Disgusting. The green sludge had hardened and he actually felt it. He couldn't stand it anymore.

"That's it! I'm sleeping on the couch tonight!" Sasuke gathered a pillow and a blanket and hastily got off of the bed.

"Why are you leaving this time?" Ino stood up in an attempt to keep her husband from leaving before he gave her an explanation.

Despite this, he managed to walk past her after muttering, "Because you look like a damn swamp frog" and stormed out of the bedroom and into the living room. He heard Ino screech in aggravation (pitched high enough to make the Ninjas of the Sound village's ears bleed) and slam the door behind him after he left the room and made his way to the couch. "How did I get myself into this?" Sasuke asked himself and fell backwards onto the couch.

He knew that he would not be getting much sleep tonight, so he didn't bother to lie his head down just yet. Scanning the area of the room he noticed another picture. This one was a photo of Ino and her best friend Sakura Haruno. He picked up the picture and looked at his wife's pink haired acquaintance.

He hadn't seen very much of Sakura since he got married but Ino spoke to her a lot. He knew that Sakura was still doing work as a professional Medic-nin and had recently taken a job as a successful writer for the _Kohona Nin News, _although he wasn't exactly sure what kind of writing job it was Ino knew, but he never bothered to ask her in fear of striking up another argument brought on by her jealous rages.

Looking at this picture brought back a flood of memories starting from 10 years ago. He remembered how almost every female in the village, especially Ino and Sakura, would nearly break each other's necks as they vied for his attention. The picture also reminded him of how Ino and Sakura broke up their friendship over him when they were younger and became bitter rivals.

He could have easily put a stop to their constant bickering… if he cared.

He would have told them that there was no reason to wreck such a good friendship…if he cared.

He should have told them that he wasn't interested in either one of them and to stop obsessing over him…but he didn't care.

He did however love the control that he had over them and his other female classmates. It was hard to believe how clueless girls were at that age. The stupidest thing he had heard was a rumor saying that he liked girls with long hair that made them decide to grow their hair long. Looking back he almost wished that he could have taken more advantage of his power over women. He considered experimenting to see if every girl in the village would risk being placed on the top of the Hidden Leaf's worst dressed list if he ever said that his favorite color combination was red, green, purple and orange. He was positive they would if it meant him giving them the time of day.

But back then, he was way too focused on avenging the loss of his family and all these love stuck females did was get in his way.

A year after he had semi-accomplished his life's goal of doing away with his brother (He didn't actually kill Itachi. He just paralyzed him from the neck down and had him institutionalized.), he was finally able to settle down and work on rebuilding his clan. He was about 19 years old at the time and he figured it was best to start while he was still young. When the word got out that he was planning on getting married, almost all of the village females practically walked through fire for him, though none worked nearly as hard as Sakura and Ino did in competing for his affections. He would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy this.

The most enjoyable moment came after he narrowed his long list potential Uchiha brides to Sakura and Ino. (The strongest female ninjas in his class.) He wasn't sure which one he could tolerate spending the rest of his life with, so the girls got some strange notion that a battle to the "death" (knockout) would help his decision. Sasuke, along with everyone else in Kohona thought this was one of the dumbest ideas they've ever concocted because no matter what kind of competition Sakura and Io challenged each other in, they always ended up in a tie.

What a battle it was though! First it started with some harmless name-calling. Then it turned into a mild catfight (possibly because the best friends were too afraid to throw the first hard blow). Eventually, the claws came out and it became an all out brawl. Sasuke had never seen such ferocious between two girls…hair flew, clothes were ripped to shreds…and that was just from the predominantly male audience. Sasuke was astonished to see how far each of them had come along over the years and didn't miss a single minute of the 3-hour long fight.

The battle ended with both of the contenders collapsed in a heap on top of each other in the middle of the arena. The only reason that Ino was declared the winner was because she lasted exactly 5 seconds after Sakura passed out from exhaustion. Both girls cracked two ribs, sprained their right ankles, and fractured a collarbone. They spent the exact amount of time in the hospital and it took both girls the same amount of time to fully recover. It was no longer a secret that their abilities balanced each other's out and they were equals. This made Sasuke's decision a lot more difficult.

After many nights of pondering, he chose Ino. "Worse decision I've ever made" he thought to himself before raising his feet onto the couch. Finally deciding to lay his head on his pillow he folded his arms across the picture, which was now resting on his chest. Even though all the years he'd known her, Sakura annoyed him to no end he couldn't help but wonder…

"How is she doing now?"

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**That same night**

A young woman with shoulder length pink hair clumsily stumbled onto her front step and sank to her knees. She was dead tired and could barely stand on her own two feet. A severe case of double vision made it almost impossible to sort through the massive number of keys that she kept on one ring and find the right key to her house. She leaned her body against the door and grabbed the knob with one hand while trying to stick the key in the hole with the other. She struggled to get her key into the door, but she could not steady her hand long enough to hold the key straight. The stupid knob refusing to hold still didn't help the matter either. It was amazing how such a simple task could be severely hindered by not sleeping for three days in a row.

Her five-minute effort to restrain the evil doorknob ended when she opened her front door and collapsed face first into her living room. She rubbed her face into the carpet as if it were a satin feather pillow and hummed a lullaby. The carpet was feeling very soft that night and she didn't want to get up from it. After a ten-minute nap in the middle of her living room floor she picked herself up and dragged her body into the kitchen. She was in dire need of a second wind for the next task that she had to take on. She poured herself a huge cup of coffee that she kept ready made in her kitchen at all times and went into her home office.

She chugged the entire mug full and walked around in order to encourage the caffeine to take effect. (This was how she spent most of her nights…chugging large mugs of coffee like the stupid teenage frat ninjas chugged alcohol before training…dancing around her office like Lee and Gai do when they think no one is watching…working until the sun came up, then retiring for a blissful 15 minutes of relaxation.)

"You can do this, just wake up Sakura." Her body jolted with a brief energy rush and her eyes sprung wide open. "Just stay awake tonight, body and I promise to let you sleep twenty-four hours straight the VERY next chance I get."

Sakura sat in her office chair in front of her computer and prepared herself for another all-nighter… not that she wasn't used to it. After becoming an advice columnist, letters full of people's problems swamped her mailbox everyday. From the first day that she started working, the word "sleep" was almost erased from her vocabulary. She couldn't complain, though. She is the famous Cherry Blossom after all. Her job is to give advice to those in need while keeping their identities, as well as her own, a secret.

This job was ideal. It was kind of like an added bonus to being a Medic-nin. She really loved to give assistance to those in need and put her natural gifts of both physical and mental healing to good use. The rewarding feeling of helping others paled in comparison to the best part about this job, which was getting the opportunity to learn the secret lives of the people in the village.

Those who wrote to her never used their real names but Sakura was always able to figure out whom each letter was from. This was to best way to get into other people's business without being tagged as intrusive. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be the first to know all of the juicy gossip and crazy things that went on in the village?

"There's no use putting it off any longer." She picked up her first letter for the night:

_Dear Cherry Blossom,_

_My cousin and I didn't get along very well a few years back. After a battle and a long discussion, we settled our differences and got along really well for the next number of years. Now all of a sudden, she's starting to bring up the past and using it against me. Sure I almost killed her once, but that was a long time ago. Why can't she just let go of the past! How can I convince her that I've completely changed and improve our relationship?_

_Unhappy branch cousin_

"Not this again, Neji."

Whenever Neji Hyuga wrote to her it generally meant that his sick relationship with his cousin Hinata was in shambles again. Sakura hated the fact that her good advice was being used to bring two cousins back into an incestuous reconciliation, but what could she do? No matter how she worded her advice the next day the gossip columns would have an entire page plastered with photos and articles of the two getting a little too close for comfort.

Sakura straightened herself in her chair and wrote her response:

_Dear Unhappy Cousin,_

_You need to have a talk with your cousin. Find out what could be causing her to act out and suddenly bring up the past. Ask yourself this question:_

_Are you making her feel inferior to you? If so, she may be bringing up the fact that you have flaws as well. Be kind to her feelings and open up to her. Remind her that you two are a team. If that fails, a little family counseling_ ("YES! Family counseling to point out that having sex with your cousin is just plain GROSS!") _wouldn't hurt._

_Cherry Blossom_

"That was easy. (In Sakura language that roughly translates into _"I'm the smartest woman in the world and now these pathetic idiots are looking up to me!"_) Now for the next." Sakura figured it would be better to check her already bloated e-mail for this one. She clicked on the mail icon and listened to the pretty (yet irritating) little jingle that told her she had new mail. The hundreds of new messages made it take a good amount of time for her page to load. Using her mouse pointer she chose a message with an interesting title. She clicked on it and read the message:

_Dear Cherry Blossom,_

_I'm in love with this guy, but I don't think he feels the same about me. Even though I am a respected ninja, he is one of the greatest ninjas in the village and I could never live up to his standards. Another problem is, even if he does feel the same way about me I don't think anyone would accept us being together. I'm also afraid that if I told him, he wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I'm wondering if I should take a risk and tell him my feelings or if I should just try to forget him and move on with my life._

_Mad for the Masked Ninja_

_P.S. Are you sure no one will know who I am? If anyone finds out about this, I'm in trouble._

"You've got to be kidding me. Iruka, Kakashi's not gay! Get over it!" Sakura had to say out loud and accompany her outburst by shaking her head in disbelief. Iruka was another one who often wrote to her about relationship advice. The problem with him is that he doesn't appear to be certain about his own sexuality. First, he developed a thing for older women and fell for Tsunade. Then, he developed a fetish for older men and fell for Jiraiya. Things started to look more normal when he hinted that he liked Kurenai Yuuhi. He could have pursued a relationship with her, but nooooo. He had to blow it by falling for Yamato. Now Kurenai's married and Iruka has fallen for Kakashi. "This has got to be the most confused ninja in the village. The gossip columns will have a field day with this one!"

Sakura was about to write her response when she heard her doorbell ring. "Who could that be at this hour?" She wasn't in the mood for visitors and hoped that if she ignored the bell whoever it was would go away. She turned off all of her office lights and sat quietly but the bell kept ringing. Over and over again the bell rang for about thirty seconds, then it stopped.

"Thank goodness." Sakura slouched into her chair but was startled by someone knocking on her office window behind her. Peeking from behind her office chair she couldn't make out who the shadowy figure looked like and it was really creeping her out. She slid out of her chair and walked hands and knees towards the window but the silhouette disappeared before she could get a closer look. Almost as soon as the shadowy figure disappeared the doorbell started to ring again.

Sakura stood up from her office floor and walked through her living room to her front door. She asked a frightened "Who is it?" and pressed her ear against the door. There was no answer. She checked though the peephole but someone was covering the hole. Probably with a finger. "This isn't funny!"

The doorbell continued to ring.

"_I'll open the door slowly. I'll be ready to strike if it's an attacker."_

As she unlocked her door Sakura pulled out her kunai and slowly turned the knob. When she opened the door, she let out a loud shriek as a tall blond spiky haired male dressed in orange grabbed her by the wrist and pulled the kunai out of her hand. She struggled to get her wrist out of his hand once she realized who he was. Once she pulled away the stranger wrapped his arms around her and shouted a delightful "Hey Sakura, you're up pretty late! I hope I didn't scare you…"

_

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__A/N :_ This is my first fanfic ever. I've noticed that there aren't very many Sasu/Ino stories, but there is a demand for them so I decided to try my hand at one. I ask that you PLEASE bear with me. I actually have the story almost finished, but English is not my first language and I have to depend on my team to translate everything. Unfortunately for me, my team is ME, MYSELF, and I. 

_That's right! I have to translate EVERYTHING into English. English …the craziest language on the planet! WHY DOES THIS LANGUAGE HAVE TO HAVE THREE DIFFERENT WAYS TO SPELL ONE WORD! And don't even let me get started on the grammar!_

_AAARRGGGHHH! (banging against a wall) I'm ok. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I find a good online translator._

_**Update:** I just found something very rare, priceless, and special…A writer who knows my language! WOOT! WOOT! She pitched a few ideas that will give the plot a slight turn. More details when chap 2 comes out. _


	2. Forgive but cannot forget

**Dear Cherry Blossom** a.k.a **Sweet Serenity**

_**Warning:** There is a lemon here._

_A/N: OK. Before moving onto the story, I'd like to introduce my translator/cousin who agreed to help me...after I threw myself at her feet and clung onto her leg. Her name is Donny- _

_Donny: Uh, that's Dawn E. _

_Skykat: Whatever Donny... She gave me suggestions that would change the story a little. (Hey, whatever my translator wants, my translator gets!) That's the good news. The bad news is she's going to summer school. Not because she has to, mind you. But because she wants to further her education (GEEK!) and she won't be able to help me as much as I'd like. If you want to know more about her, she's got a temporary bio in my profile page. So anyway, thanks for taking the time to read and don't worry, Donny. I'll take the ball and shackle off your ankle as soon as you finish chap 3. _

_Summery_: Sasuke and Ino's marriage is falling apart and now Sasuke's eye is starting to wander. Sakura is a successful advice columnist who's planning to use her expertise to drive them further apart. Naruto still loves Sakura and is making a plan to win her over. Hey! Where does Itachi play into all this?

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Naruto. But I miss Haku!

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**CHAPTER 2**: Forgive but cannot forget 

The sounds of a highly agitated woman yelling and a cowering fox-boy getting his head knocked around pretty badly interrupted the night silence in the peaceful village. Sakura pulled her body free from the annoying man's grasp and pushed him further away from her. Gathering every bit of strength her worn out body could produce, she clobbered the unsuspecting ninja causing him to hit the ground hard.

"Naruto, why are you here at this hour of the night? What are you trying to do, get yourself killed!" Sakura was ready to explode with anger.

"By who? YOU? You're funny, Sakura!" Even though he was black and blue with a large knot on his head and lying flat on the ground, Naruto still had this annoying grin on his face. "Anyway, I was just out for a walk when I happened by your place. I uh... thought you could use a little company in your time of need." Naruto got to his feet and somehow managed to disappear from in front of her and make his way into her living room although she was standing in front of the doorway and blocking the only entrance into her house. (Can't deny those Ninja skills!) "I heard about you and Rock Lee."

"_Where's a TASER when you need one?_" Sakura sighed. "Naruto, will you get out of here? It's too late at night and I'm too busy to put up with your antics!"

"You work too hard, Sakura. Relax with me a little while." Naruto suggested while making himself comfortable on her couch. "I can tell you haven't been getting much sleep lately. Have you not seen the dark circles around your eyes? You look worse than Gaara."

"I don't need to relax now. I just need to be left alone!" Sakura stood in front of the opened door with her fists clenched...in about five seconds she was going to pounce and strangle this guy so hard that even kyuubi's eyes would bug out.

"Are you sure you want me to leave?" Naruto fished for something in his pocket. "I've got ramen!"

"GET OUT!" Sakura stood by the door and pointed her finger outside. Naruto stood up and slowly walked outside. After he made it out the door, he stopped in front of the doorway in order to turn around and face Sakura.

"Sakura, are you still upset about your highly publicized break up with that bushy browed loser?" Sakura, not wanting to answer his question, slammed the door in Naruto's face. She looked through to eyehole and watched him walk away from her house with his hands buried in his pockets and his head hanging low. She then leaned her back hard against the door and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

After all these years, Naruto was just as annoying as ever.

* * *

For the first part of his trip home Naruto walked with his head down without paying much attention to the area around him. He had spent the whole day trying to figure a good excuse to go to Sakura's house. Apparently, "just out for a walk and happened by your place" wasn't good enough. "Mission one was a failure." He said to himself. "Next plan." 

It was a beautiful night. The moon was shining brightly and the sky was speckled with millions of tiny stars. The air was clear and a warm breeze swirled around some nearby trees. It was the perfect night for taking a long walk and getting one's thoughts together. So, how does one handle such a headstrong woman like that? Was there any point in trying to pursue her while she was still so upset? One would think he'd be use to rejection by now, but the pain was just as sharp now as it was ten years ago.

Naruto paused and looked up at the perfectly round moon in the star filled sky. The damn thing had the nerve to be smiling while he was feeling so bad. "What am I supposed to do?" He asked up at the sky as if he were expecting to moon to answer. "I've always had bad luck with women." The moon had no answer for him. It just sat there with those stupid happy faced shaped spots on its surface. "You think this is funny huh? Kiss my ass, man on the moon!"

Oh great. He reached a new low by cursing out the moon. He knew that he really shouldn't take his anger out on that oversized slab of rock, but it's just that he always _did_ have bad luck with women. First, he had to deal with every female thinking that he was obnoxious and refusing to talk to him. Then, he constantly had to avoid getting beat up by a crowd of angry fan girls whenever he insulted Kohona's eye candy...that so called bronze god Sasuke. The worst was when he became a complete outcast once they found out that he was possessed by a fox demon. It took years for him to gain their respect and get back into the dating scene.

For years he tried his best to win Sakura over but he always lost to Sasuke. Although he did date her for a little while when Sasuke went missing, as soon as Sasuke trotted his happy ass back into the village, Sakura went crawling back to him. That was when Hinata got the courage to ask him out. Naruto still remembered clearly when she told him that things weren't going the way she thought they would and that they should see other people. It wouldn't have hurt so badly if she didn't say this on their first date. It didn't matter. He loved Sakura with every fiber of his body and would do anything to get her back.

He didn't know why he thought Sasuke's marriage to Ino would change things. Even after he got married, Sasuke was still the object of Sakura's affections. The day he heard about Sasuke's engagement Naruto nearly jumped through the roof of his apartment with joy. At last! His archrival was going to be tied down to a woman. Even better... a highly possessive woman. The only reason he actually went to the wedding was to make sure that Sasuke went through with it. If Sasuke even thought about getting cold feet, Naruto would have dragged him down the aisle by the wrists (Or whatever part of Sasuke's body he could get a grip on) and held him in place until he said "I do."

Sakura was there as the maid of honor. He memorized every detail of how beautiful she looked the day and her radiant smile that nearly brought tears to his eyes. She told everyone that she was happy for her best friend but Naruto could tell that she was upset over losing the lifelong battle for Sasuke's heart.

After the ceremony everyone gathered outside and enjoyed the reception. Ino took the time to dance with her father as well as a few friends including Shikamaru and Chouji. Sasuke never did dance with his new bride. What kind of a moron would get married and not dance at his own wedding? He just sat at the table among a few of his fellow ninja and stared at everything with his that same emotionless look on his face. But with a careful look Naruto could see that Sasuke was trying his hardest not to smile. Leave it to Sasuke to make a simple thing like showing that he was happy more painful than getting his nose hairs pulled out one by one.

Sakura sat at a table by herself and kept her face hidden behind her hands. Naruto assumed this would be the perfect chance to get closer to her but when he approached she told him to leave her alone. He didn't want leave her in that state but he didn't want to further upset her either so he reluctantly prepared to go home. Before he left, Naruto assured her that he would always be there for her if she ever wanted someone to talk to. She actually smiled at his kindness and whispered "Thank you" to him.

Not five minutes after Naruto left, "Mr. Wonderful " also known as Rock Lee came up to her. He _would_ wait until Naruto had softened Sakura up a little to make his move. Naruto wanted to kick himself once he learned that Sakura had left the wedding with Lee and then started dating him the next day. What did she see in him anyway? His eyes bulged out, he cried like a wimp whenever his sensei got upset with him, he dressed like a green ballerina, and his freaky eyebrowspractically swallowed his face! Plus, he and Gai sensei have no problem hugging and fondling each other in public. And they way Lee carried himself as if he were the god's gift to women always made Naruto want to breakhis neck.

Oh well. There was no use worrying about the past. Especially since Lee and Sakura are kaput. Now is his chance to show Sakura how much he loved her. She's alone, vulnerable, and in desperate need something (or someone) to keep her mind off the past, which was probably why she had been throwing herself head first into her work. He didn't want to take advantage of her... just be a shoulder to cry on until she felt better. The problem was, as long as the gossip column poured out stories with the phase "Uchiha Heir Heading for Divorce" in each headline, he knew there would be roadblocks in his quest to win her back.

Naruto was well aware of the problems between Sasuke and Ino. Heck..._everyone_ who read the gossip column was aware. He knew that things were rocky between the two, but he never believed that they would get a divorce. Gossip columns had a way with exaggerating _everything_. He tried to talk to Sasuke a few times about the situation, but the two were never close enough to discuss matters as private as that.

"Enough reminiscing. It's time to formulate a new plan." Perhaps he was being too pushy by just dropping in on Sakura like that. Naruto thought long and hard. "I need to plan this out better. I got it! I'll make this a new mission...a new mission that would definitely win Sakura's heart for good!" It took a few more minutes, but a plan eventually came to him. The first thing was to put a stop to the circulation of the gossip columns. Because his plan was so complex, he'd probably carry this plan out in phases:

Phase number one: Find out who the author of the gossip column is.

Phase number two: Beat the crap out of him for giving the woman he loved false hope.

Phase number three: Beat the crap out of Sasuke for being a jerk. (Surely, these marital problems are all HIS fault)  
Phase number four: Convince Sakura he's the only one that should be with her.

Phase number five: Talk to Ino and try to help her work things out with Sasuke. And while he's at it, beat the crap out of Sasuke again for the heck of it.

"Yeah, that should work nicely...Bah! Who am I kidding? That plan sounded dumb even for ME! C'mon, Naruto! Think, think, think!" He knocked himself in the head a few times with his fist but a new plan would not come to him. Forget it. He'll have to find some other time to work on a plan. But for now, he'll just enjoy the night with his new buddy, Mr. moon.

Naruto grinned a wide foxy grin and continued walking until he came across a person standing under a streetlight getting attacked in the distance. Upon further investigation he discovered that the person was Shikamaru getting his ass kicked by a dark figure that didn't have any facial features.

"Oh boy, here we go again." Naruto said, putting his hand over his forehead. "I guess I should go help him out this time." Naruto took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky. "Sakura, I gave up to soon. I let you go before and you ended up getting hurt." Naruto said as strutted up to Shikamaru so that he could help him out. "I won't let it happen again. I promise."

* * *

"Who do I write to when _I_ need advice?" Sakura walked back to her office and searched through a stack of papers that collected in all of the corners of the room. She was searching for something that always gave her nightmares when she looked at it but she could never make herself throw it away. She wasn't sure what was driving her to look for something so horrible, but she kept searching until she found it. It was an article with the feature story of her emotional breakup with Rock Lee. She picked it up and slowly read each and every painful sentence. It had been two weeks since the break up and Sakura was not quite over him. She leafed through the periodical and reminisced about the good times that she shared with him. 

They had the perfect fairy tale relationship that made everyone (especially Naruto) quite ill whenever they were seen together in public. He treated her like a princess and everyday he would assure her that he would always protect her with his life. Everyone thought that they would end up getting married. In fact, Sakura knew that he was indeed planning on proposing to her. After Sasuke's rejection she found happiness in her private life through Lee and actually did consider spending the rest of her life with him. That was until the word got out about Ino's rocky marriage to Sasuke.

This was the news that Sakura had waited almost 2 years to hear. Although she was happy with Rock Lee, she had secretly been hoping -even going as low as wishing- that Ino and Sasuke would divorce each other. Since the divorce appeared to be imminent, Sakura had to make sure that she was free to be there when a distraught Sasuke needed a shoulder to cry on. Too bad this meant breaking up with Lee.

It all happened the night that Lee was going to pop the question. Lee had planned for weeks in order to make that day special for Sakura. With the help of his fellow teammates (and Gai sensei of course) he dressed in the best suit that he could afford and rented a private banquet hall decorated from top to bottom with lotus blossoms. It was quite extravagant for an ordinary wedding proposal, but Lee was always willing to go that extra mile just to show off.

Everyone in the village was there, including Kakashi and even the Hokage (although Naruto failed to show up). After a night of feasting and dancing to the music of a live band, Lee actually got up on the stage and sang his feelings (Lee was surprisingly talented) for Sakura, for all to hear. Just as he was about to hand her an exceptionally beautiful lotus flower with the ring hidden inside, she uttered a faint "I'm sorry but no." and ran out of the banquet hall.

Sakura had to admit that it was way better than Sasuke's proposal to Ino. (All he did was throw a kunai at her feet with a tag on it that read "I choose you, Ino"), but she didn't regret what she did that night. Tears streamed down her cheeks and onto the article when she remembered how she became incredibly depressed shortly after realizing all of the pain that she caused.

She had to do it. This would be her once in a lifetime opportunity and her dream come true. She would just die if she knew that her biggest competition was out of the way forever and Sasuke would once again be available. She felt it was the right decision even though the lingering memory of how cruel she was to Lee still wrenched her gut.

As if her status on the social ladder wasn't already low enough, people avoided her even more. Wherever she went, people would avoid eye contact and pretend that they couldn't see her as they walked by. Sadly, she could easily tell that they would be whispering something about her as soon as they thought she was too far away for her to hear. For the past two weeks Sakura was known as "That evil girl who broke poor Lee's heart." What she did next really made her sick to her stomach. The very next day she got an e-mail she clicked it open and read the contents:

_Dear Cherry Blossom,  
I just asked the girl of my dreams to marry me and she turned me down. I have never felt so crushed and humiliated in my entire life. I am still trying to figure out she could down a good-looking guy like me?_ (Gai sensei much?) _I still love her and I still want to spend the rest of my life with her. How can I convince her to change her mind and come back to me?_

_Crying in a lotus blossom_

She immediately recognized as Lee's not just because of the familiar subject matter but also because Lee had never used a contraction in his life.

It all but hurt her fingers to type her response, but she tool a deep breathe and did it anyway:

_Dear Crying,  
I understand your pain and I deeply empathize with you. Break ups are never easy and I'm sorry to say that you're going to have to try and move on with your life. If she turned down a wedding proposal, chances are she doesn't want to be with you anymore. Remember that time heals everything and you'll feel better and be in another relationship before you know it._

_Cherry Blossom_

After she finished her response she went hysterical and desperately looked to her best friend to ease her pain. Who else but Ino would be standing at Sakura's front door with open arms ready to comfort her? It was her best friend Ino who stayed up with her all of those nights that she cried a river. It was her best friend Ino who stood up for her when people trash talked her. It was her best friend Ino who pretended to understand Sakura's lame excuse as to why she did what she did. "I wish you were here now, Ino." She almost felt guilty for wishing that her best friend's marriage would end. (ALMOST being the key word.)

All of a sudden she could not get Sasuke out of her mind and her feelings of guilt and depression were replaced with fury. "I should be married to Sasuke! That...PORKER doesn't deserve him!" She ripped the article to shreds and threw the pieces into the air. The scraps of paper slowly drifted down around her like confetti and she curled into the fetal position on the floor.

"That fight!" She banged her fist on the ground. "If only she knew the truth! If only they ALL knew the truth!" By now, she knew that there was no way she could get any more work done, so she opted to take a bath and turn in early for once. Once her tub was filled, she looked at her own reflection in the water and was shocked at the unfamiliar sight looking back at her. " I DO look worse than Gaara. Damn that Naruto!" she shouted, easing herself into the tub. The warm fruit smelling water that surrounded her caused her to relax a little more. "I wonder what Sasuke's doing now?"

* * *

Sasuke couldn't fall asleep after the incident with his wife. He thought about apologizing to her but his pride got in the way (damn male ego!). He decided to just wait until morning to see if Ino would come to her senses. She KNOWS that he's the great Uchiha heir. She should be worshiping the ground he walked on like she did before they got married. 

He was about to close his eyes when he heard the bedroom door open followed by the sounds of his wife slowly walking down the stairs and into the living room. _"Oh great"_ he thought, _"she's probably here to annoy me again." _Sasuke shut his eyes tight.

"Sasuke? Are you awake?" Ino asked even though she could easily tell that Sasuke was pretending to be asleep. She quietly stepped a little closer. She looked at the circular light red mark that formed on his forehead and softly put her the tips of her fingers against it causing him to flinch a little. "Does it hurt?" He still didn't talk to her. "I'm sorry." Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at his wife. She was standing next to the couch in her bathrobe with her face cleaned off and the rollers taken out of her hair. He put a frustrated expression on his face and continued to stare at her without saying anything.

Sensing that apologizing would not be enough for him, she untied her robe belt. She pulled the opening of the robe apart and allowed her robe to slide off her shoulders and onto the floor revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath. Sasuke tried his hardest to ignore her but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Nor could he resist the urge to get up from the couch and start fondling her body with his fingers and his mouth. She trembled as his fingers softly touched the tip of her lip and then journeyed down to her chest. He spent a few seconds circling around her areola with his fingers then moved them further down the front of her body to her inner thigh. He sat back down on the couch, allowing his instincts to take over.

Ino closed her eyes and flung her head back when she felt Sasuke took both of her breasts in his hands and explored around her navel with his tongue until he could feel himself slowly losing control of his own body.She was about to ask him if he would forgive her but before she could open her mouth to speak, a lighting fast hand grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto the couch. Sasuke didn't bother to take his pants off but he pulled the top down far enough to free his manhood, which was already standing straight up. He climbed on top of Ino and pushed into her so hard that her head hit against the arm of the couch.

The sounds of Ino's moans of pleasure echoed throughout the house with each hard thrust of Sasuke's lower body. He used his arm to raise her leg over his shoulder so that he could press into her even further. She wanted to arch her back but there was no need- he was already as deep inside her as he could possibly get. Feeling his member rub against her insides, he groaned, lowering his head to her shoulder and burying his face in the base of her neck. His pulsating member put her into a trance- a kind of hypnotic state not even the feel of him releasing the contents of his ejaculation inside of her could break.

She enjoyed submitting to him for a while but she wanted her turn to be on top. She hinted to him by releasing her leg from his grasp on his shoulder and moving her body from side to side in an effort to get him to change his position. Try as hard as she may, she was unable to move much because she had almost all of Sasuke's body weight on her. It's not like he would have let her get on top until he was ready. Sasuke was always the one in control and after a year and a half, she was well aware of it by now. After a few minutes, Sasuke's heavy body began to take its toll on her. She tried to shift her weight so that she would be on top but Sasuke reacted by propping himself up and pinning Ino down by her shoulders with his hands. After a while Ino's body couldn't stand anymore.

"Please Sasuke, say you forgive me now!" she pleaded- shoulders starting to hurt because of the pressure he was putting on them.

"Say who I am and I'll forgive you." Sasuke demanded while he continued his jackhammer like motions into her.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha!" Ino's arms were beginning to go numb, so she grabbed Sasuke's arms and dug her nails deeply into his skin. The deep crescent shaped markings she imprinted in his flesh did not faze him at all.

"WRONG! Try again!" Before she could respond Sasuke was lowered his head and rammed his tongue down Ino's mouth...mostly to delay her answer.

"You are Sasuke...the great Uchiha heir!" Ino only managed to say because she turned her head away from Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke compensated by kissing her hard down her neck with his tongue licking her skin along the way.

"LOUDER!" He angrily stared dead into her eyes. His own eyes began to flash between his sharingan and the normal dark color, letting Ino know that he meant business.

"YOU ARE SASUKE...THE GREAT UCHIHA HEIR!" Ino's throat began to get soar from all of the yelling.

"That's what I wanted to hear." Sasuke said in his usual monotone voice. "And don't even think about stopping until I say you can." He halted his body and rolled over toward the back of the couch and allowed Ino to straddle him for a little while. He used this time to catch his breath and rub his hands around her body while she steadily moved her pelvis forward and backward against his own. "Faster." he commanded in a stern voice. Ino did as she was told and sped up her body movements until she became too tired to continue. When he gave her the okay to finish, Ino got off of him and rested her head on his chest so that she could listen to his heartbeat. He shifted a little and started to run his fingers through her hair. "Before you go to sleep, do me one more favor."

Ino knew what was coming. He was going to ask her to use her special jutsu to pleasure him from the inside. This was another thing that sucked for her (other than his feeling that his masculinity would be in jeopardy if he were not the dominant one and first to be on top) when it came to having sex with Sasuke. This was something that only benefited him because she got absolutely no pleasure from lying lifeless next to him. "I need to rest." She said trying to sound as pitiful as she could. "You've already worn out my chakra."

"Just a few minutes" he responded with his fingers now roaming to the sensitive area in between her legs.

"All right." Ino made a few hand signs and released her soul into his body. Sasuke relished in his wife's abilities although he refused to outwardly show it by moaning. About two minutes later she could no longer hold out and fell fast asleep in his arms. Sasuke was finally content.

With a smile he pulled his wife closer to him and whispered, "You really can be a bitch every now and then, Ino" Sasuke turned his head and kissed her softly on the cheek. "But I'll forgive you this time."

* * *

Sasuke woke up early the next morning on the couch next to his wife. He could tell that she was still exhausted from the night before, so he didn't bother to wake her. He hurriedly walked back up the stairs to his bedroom and got himself ready for the day. He was going on a mission to train some genin with a team of fellow jounin and couldn't afford to be late, especially since he had to make a quick stop along the way. 

Before he left, he cleared the hair from Ino's face and pressed his lips against her forehead. "So worried about how you looked last night. I hardly think your client would approve of the way you look now." He left the house and made his way toward the village.

The sun wasn't fully out yet, but the sky was lit well enough to see everything in the area. Everything was quiet except for the sound of an occasional singing bird. He steadily walked toward the village with his head hanging low...the satisfaction that he gained the night before was short lived. There was something still bothered him about his wife that he could not put aside. Something that he could never come to terms with.

Now was not the time to worry about it. Even though he was upset, he found comfort in the reminder of where he was headed. Sasuke picked up his pace and started to walk as fast as he could. Not just to get to his destination on time, but also to avoid-

"Hey loser! What are you doing up so early?" Naruto ran up to Sasuke from behind and slowed down to a walk when he caught up to him. "We don't have to be in for another hour." Every time he got up early to go to the main village he ran into Naruto. And every time Naruto would ask him the same question with that ever-present look of stupidity on his face.

"I should be asking you the same thing. It's not like you're needed for this training session--or any other one for that matter." Sasuke glanced at his endlessly irritating comrade. They didn't hate each but they weren't exactly best friends either. After becoming jounin, they've settled their differences and were content to remain friendly rivals. (Although it was rare that an encounter between the two did not end in a verbal brawl.)

"I've got something that I'm working on. Plus, they need a replacement for Shikamaru. He got beat up pretty badly last night and he has to recover."

"Not that again." Sasuke nodded in disbelief. "Can't he keep that thing under control?" All of a sudden another thought rushed into Sasuke's mind. "There're actually letting YOU take over a squad?"

"And what's so surprising about that?" Naruto stood still and put his hands on his hips. "I AM a jounin just like the rest of you!"

"True, but I thought you were placed in the suicide squad. Or as the rest of us call it, 'The group that can't do anything else.' " Sasuke kept walking but looked back over his shoulder and smiled at Naruto.

"Oh you are so damn funny!" He looked Sasuke up and down and continued his walk with a devious look appearing in his eyes. "Look at the way you're walking. And check out those marks on your arms...you got some last night didn't you?" Naruto asked with an _"I want details"_ look on his face. It was odd that Naruto would have an eye for something like that, considering he was still a virgin.

"That's none of your damn business." Sasuke said crossly. He tried to walk a little faster but Naruto picked up his own pace and kept up with him.

"Does this mean you've finally got things settled?"

"One wild night with Ino doesn't make up for the eternal pain she's caused me." Sasuke once again gave Naruto a look. Naruto just stared back with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Perhaps I've said too much."

"Wild huh?" Naruto said with a smirk. "Eh...you're probably just not doing it right."

"How would you know?" Sasuke responded angrily (Yet again, his manhood's on the line.) "The closest thing you ever get to sex with a woman is whenever you touch yourself while using your Sexy-No-Jutsu technique!"

"Hey! That was a one-time thing!" Naruto yelled defensively. "Had I known that pervert from the gossip column was watching me in the springs I would have-" Naruto's face was turning bright red and he figured it was probably best to stop. Just when Sasuke thought he finally got his comrade to shut up, the sudden change of expression on Naruto's face told him that something else had jumped into the dumb dobe's mind. "What pain?" Not getting an answer to his question made Naruto look in Sasuke's direction and notice Sasuke turn down another road. "Where are you going? The village is this way!"

"I'm going to see my brother." Sasuke yelled back "I'll be back in time for the mission."

"I see I'm going to have to come up with a new plan sooner." Naruto said to himself and continued his journey to the village.

Sasuke made it to the special care facility with more than enough time to visit his brother. He always made it a point visit Itachi at least once every six weeks even though he was still evil. Evil or not, Itachi was still family and is now suffering a fate worse than death. Every visit was the same. They never said a word to each other and Itachi would just stare at Sasuke with the lingering presence of hate in his eyes. Sasuke didn't mind. He was only doing what he thought his family would want him to do...but it also didn't hurt rub fact that he was still mobile in Itachi's face. He entered the building and walked down a long hall to the entrance of Itachi's room.

The room was located in an isolated part of the building behind two steel doors. The only way to get into it was with one of the special keys that were made just for him, Tsunade, and a few other medic-nin. It was heavily guarded just in case anyone from the Atasuki ever tried to break in and reclaim their former member. Once his identity was confirmed and he was thoroughly searched, he was given the okay to enter. He pushed his key into the lock and turned it slowly so not to wake his brother in case he was still asleep.

"What the hell do you want now?" The angry voice from inside yelled. "I said I'm not going to eat that shit you serve here!"

"It's me, Itachi." Sasuke walked into the room and sat on the foot of his brother's bed. Itachi lie stiff on the bed with a thick tube sticking out of his neck. He was hooked up to a large machine with an endless amount of tubes connected to his arms. One tube was extremely large and connected to his chest. Its main purpose was to keep Itachi under control by draining the chakra right out of his body in case he ever tried to open a chakra gate to heal himself.

"I don't want to see you. Get the fuck out of here." Itachi said in a voice so evil that it sent shivers down Sasuke's spine. "You're just here to gloat because you can still walk."

"So you're finally talking to me. You've been like this for almost two years. Get over it." Sasuke responded, shaking off the cold feeling forming at the base of his spine.

"Don't think I don't know why you let me live. You know I'd rather die than live like this."

"Don't think I don't know why you let _me_ live. You had two chances to kill me, but you were determined to fight me when I was at my strongest."

"Almost four years ago." Itachi said slightly louder than a whisper.

Sasuke could vaguely remember what happened during his last day with Orochimaru. He did find out that Orochimaru had eventually possessed his body but he wasn't sure what happened after that. All he could remember was waking up at Itachi's feet next to a pile of dust that was once Orochimaru's body. Sasuke's body frozecompletely stiffwhen he looked at the coldness in Itachi's eyes. He was expecting to get slaughtered right on the spot, but oddly enough Itachi just whispered an icy "You owe me one, little brother" before he turned and walked away.

After Sasuke's return to the village, he spent over a year preparing for the fight with his brother. Fortunately, the painful purification process that he had to go through got rid of his cursed seal, but did not diminish much of the power he had gained. They finally did get their chance to fight and Sasuke emerged as the victor.

It kind of sucked that all he had to do was sneak up from behind Itachi and push him off a cliff. It was hard to tell who was more embarrassed...Sasuke, who resorted to such a cheap trick to defeat his brother, or Itachi who fell for it... literally. Either way, they both kept their mouths shut about the whole situation.

"You may have won that battle, little bother, but I still don't give a damn about what I did. The only thing I regret is not killing your sorry ass when I had the chance." Sasuke glared frigidly at his brother but Itachi continued. "Why are you here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be 'rebuilding' our clan? Shouldn't you be home banging your wife? Or is your performance so bad that you can't even keep a woman satisfied? Admit it, little brother. You're weak as a fighter and you're weak in the bed."

"You talk a lot of shit for someone who's useless from the waist down." The look of anger on Sasuke's face was replaced by a sly grin. "I have a gift for you, Itachi." Sasuke stood up and walked over to a bulletin board located against the wall at the foot of Itachi's bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small photo. Pulling out an unused thumbtack from the board he stuck it in a clear area of the board. Itachi's eye's widened when he saw that it was a picture of his family that Sasuke had hung right in front of him.

"DAMN YOU!" Itachi screamed to the top of his lungs. The machines he was connected to began to beep hysterically causing an orderly to run into the room.

"Have a nice day, brother." Sasuke said calmly before walking out of the room leaving the chaotic scene of medics trying to get everything under control. Yelling and cursing echoed down the hall back before the steal doors slammed behind him. "On to the village."

* * *

**_Donny_**_: Well that was tastefully done.  
**Skykat**: Oh please, you geek! I've seen tastier lemons grow on bushes! Haven't you ever heard of smut?  
**Donny**: Lemons grow on trees, you moron!  
**Skykat**:(singing) Your lemons suck! I'd rather suck a lemon than read your sucky lemon! Your lemons suck! _

**_Donny_**_: Let's see you do better!  
**Skykat**: Fine! I've got the next lemon!_

_To the readers, I had no intention of including Itachi but Donny likes a little adventure so I'm putting him in. My plot is still there, but there will be some added stuff to give the story a more adventurous tone. So, essentially, I'll be rewriting the story._

_Thank you for your reviews. Be sure to let us (Especially Donny) know how you feel about the story so far, and remember we are always open to suggestions. Chapter 3 will show more of the change in the plot._


	3. Let the story begin!

**Dear Cherry Blossom a.k.a Sweet Serenity**

_To answer the mostly asked question... Hablo español. _

_I got a few Shout Outs for my reviewers. I should have given them out sooner, but until recently, I didn't know what a Shout Out was. (Thanks, Donny!) In this case, a Shout Out is a very special thank you. Instead of using names, I'll use numbers starting from the bottom (1st review) to the top (Last review)_

_#3, #4, #7, #8, #9 and #10 : You guys are great!4 Shout Outs for all of you!_

_#1, #2, #5 and #6:6 Shout Outs for you! (See, Donny? My English doesn't suck!)_

_Donny: You're nothing without me, Skykat!_

_And the grand prizewinners are #1, #6, #8, and #10 with an additional3 more Shout Outs for leaving me the coolest reviews! _

_What can you do with these Shout Outs? I don't know. Perhaps I'll think of something. Thanks again everyone! _

_Summary: _Sasuke and Ino's marriage is falling apart. Sakura is a successful advice columnist. Naruto still loves Sakura, Sakura still loves Sasuke, and someone is ALWAYS putting Sasuke's manhood on the line.

_Recap:_ Sasuke and Ino argued but settled everything by engaging in make up sex, (too bad this was only temporary), Naruto visited a depressed Sakura only to have his ass kicked, and finally, Itachi "weaseled" his way into the story. (Get it? It's a pun! Ha! Ha! Ha!)

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto. But I do own some of the new characters that will be popping up. But will I get paid? NOOOOOOO!

**Warning: **A little OCCness going on…but hey, that's what makes it interesting, right?

**

* * *

Chapter 3: Let the story begin!**

Back at the village everyone was getting ready for the "special mission" by the time Sasuke had arrived. They were all there just as early as he was and were waiting for Kakashi to show up with the description of how they were going to carry out this special mission. Sasuke took a little time out to observe whose teams were chosen to participate. Chouji was sitting on the ground grumbling something about how hungry he was despite the fact that he ate not twenty minutes ago, Tenten and Neji were standing a few feet away from him, knee deep in conversation with their genin, and Rock Lee was standing with his back against a wall lost in thought. It was an odd sight to see his three genin leaning up against the same wall, all wearing the same green jumpsuits with the same soup bowl haircuts. (They also had thick eyebrows…nuff said.)

Before Sasuke could talk to his adult comrades, his three genins ran up to him and greeted him excitedly. Wide eyed and energetic, they seemed very happy to be going on a real mission that didn't have to do with picking potatoes or walking dogs.

"Sasuke sensei?" One member of his squad named Michio said innocently, tugging on Sasuke's shirt. "When do we start?" Sasuke looked down into the small child's large brown eyes. At the tender age of seven, Michio was extremely advanced and well on his way to becoming chunin. He was also disgustingly adorable and Sasuke was all too proud to have the opportunity to train him.

"Just a minute, Michio." Sasuke went over to where Tenten and Neji were standing. "What's with Lee?" he asked noticing that Lee hadn't picked his head up since he got there.

"He hasn't been the same since Sakura's rejection." Tenten replied. "He wrote to Cherry Blossom about what had happened and she answered his letter by telling him to move on. Now he's so distraught that he barely even talks to his own squad." Sasuke looked over at the freaky looking taijustu master. He felt sorry for him but for some reason he was glad that Sakura had rejected him. He briskly shook his head and shifted his focus onto something more important. He scanned the vicinity of where they were standing. Something was missing.

"Sasuke sensei? I want to get started now!" Michio tugged even harder on Sasuke's shirt.

"_Gracious, he's more irritating and impatient than Naruto was at that age… That's it"._ "Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked even though he really didn't care about the blond shinobi's present location.

"We saw him walk into the village but then he vanished into thin air." Neji answered. "I think you should go look for him. Kakashi sensei will be here any minute."

"_That's what you think." _Sasuke thought remembering the past experiences with his former trainer's constant tardiness. "I'll go get him." Sasuke left the group and searched through all of Naruto's favorite hang out spots. After searching every restaurant in the village that served ramen, he searched through the woods, blazing at a blinding speed from tree to tree. He paused for a few seconds only try and pick up the faintest trace of chakra that indicated his comrade was nearby. Once he finished scouting one area he moved onto the next. Within a few minutes of searching he heard a small rustle in some bushes a few feet away from where he was standing. He followed the sound and reached a small clearing in the woods. _"He's behind me."_ Sasuke stood still, waiting for Naruto to make his next move, but almost as soon as he sensed Naruto's presence, the chakra was gone.

Kicking all of his ninja senses into high gear, he circled the area trying to pick up on Naruto's trail again. Nothing. Sasuke leaned his back again a tree and took time out to figure out what he should do next. Looking up at the morning sky, he could see that he didn't have much time to continue his search before the rest of his team would begin the "special mission" without him. His lack of patience got the better of him and he elected to head back to the village with or without Naruto. That's when he heard the rustle in the bushes again. _"There's no way he'd be making all this noise unless he wanted me to know where he was. He must be playing a game."_ Sasuke stood in the middle of the clearing and got into his battle stance.

Just he suspected, Naruto shot out of the bushes towards Sasuke's direction but Sasuke jumped out of the way before Naruto could land on him. Naruto tried to jump at him from another angle but missed again and ran off. Before could he make sense of what Naruto was trying to do, Sasuke was alone again. He didn't know what kind of game Naruto was playing, but he was growing increasingly tired of wasting his time dodging Naruto's attacks. "Abort 'finding Naruto' mission." He left the clearing and proceeded back to the village, still keeping his eyes and ears open in case Naruto attempted another attack. He hadn't made it five feet out of the clearing when Naruto jumped out from nowhere and tackled Sasuke to the ground.

"What the-!" Sasuke shouted trying to get the kyuubi-boy off of his back.

"Give me the camera!" Naruto wrestled with Sasuke in an effort to grab at one of his hands. They wrestled on the ground for a few seconds until Naruto stopped and allowed his rival to get to his feet.

"You're crazy!" Sasuke growled. "What do you think you're doing?" He stared deep into Naruto's eyes waiting to hear what he had to say even though he was pretty sure Naruto had no real explanation for ambushing him and attempting to grab an invisible camera.

"I was trailing somebody but thanks to you, I lost him along the way. I was going to retreat back to the village…and I saw you…so…I…wanted to practice on you. But…you…didn't co…op…per…ate…so I just uh… decided to practice on you anyway." Naruto looked confidently at his rival completely unaware that his explanation made absolutely no sense. Sasuke would have loved more than anything to severely hurt this knuckleheaded ninja but concluded that it just wasn't worth the time and the energy at the moment.

"Come on, dumbass." Sasuke said, walking toward the village. "We're running late."

* * *

After a seven-hour slumber Sakura woke up feeling miserable. In her mind she wanted to get up and start the day but her body had other plans. Although she wasn't lacking in energy, she had an undeniable sense of queasiness in her stomach. She couldn't see very well because her eyes were almost swollen shut and she couldn't breathe through her nose because her sinuses were clogged; undoubtedly the result of spending the night crying herself to sleep. She figured it would be best to stay in bed until she could get her thoughts together but she had to get up in order to turn in her next articles to the editor. Reluctantly, she rolled out of bed, splashed cold water on her face, and got dressed. She didn't have much of an appetite so she skipped breakfast and headed straight out the door. 

Mother nature always had a way with making things better. The sun was shinning brightly and the warmth of its rays touched her face as soon as she stepped outside. A cool gentle breeze blew through her hair much like her own mother used to do with her fingers when she was younger. She threw her head back and took a large amount of the fresh air into her lungs. "This day couldn't be any more perfect!" She immediately felt her spirit lift and found herself almost skipping to the editor's office.

It didn't take long to get there because the building was only a few minutes away from were she lived. Inside was almost empty because a lot of the staff was out on some sort of mission. Moegi was one of the few staff members that didn't have a mission that day. "I got some more articles here or you." Sakura said handing her folder to the teenager sitting at her cubicle. Moegi grabbed the folder out of Sakura's hand and flipped through the pages.

"Is this for Jiraiya?" She asked while still going through the pages, with the unmistakable look of cluelessness.

"He is the editor isn't he?" Sakura answered back in a voice that basically said "_DUH_!"

"He's not here." She mumbled, scoffing at the fact that Sasukra had just spoken to her as if she lacked common sense. "He's out looking for some more inspiration for his next book."

"Oh no. That means he's over by the ladies bathhouse." Sakura said, rolling her eyes.

"You know our editor. I'll see that he gets this." Moegi leaned her body against her desk as if she were hiding something. This strange behavior sparked Sakura's curiosity.

"What's that you're working on?" She asked when she observed a rather thick folder sticking out from under Moegi's body regardless of her desperate attempts to hide it.

"It's just some things for the next issue. Konohamaru took a few pictures of the training grounds and stuff." She hastily gathered the folder up and threw it into her desk drawer. "I'll make sure Jiraiya gets this as soon as he gets back." The girl was acting a little too out of the ordinary but Sakura didn't have much time to question her. After saying a quick "thank you", Sakura left the office and proceeded for the village. On the way she stopped for a few seconds.

"What's Ino doing I wonder? Maybe I should help her psych herself up for this new client before she leaves." She changed her course of direction and walked as fast as she could towards Ino's house. Sure she was supposed to be going to the medic's office, but what kind of person would she be if she didn't make a little time for her best friend?

* * *

"Naruto" Neji addressed in a curious voice, "What are you doing here? This is a special mission for jounin and their genin." 

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Naruto asked viciously. "I AM a jounin now!"

"Yeah, but weren't you placed in the suicide squad? Or as the rest of us call it, 'The squad that sucks at everything else?'" Neji smirked at Naruto.

"Ha, ha, ha. You and Sasuke are SOOO funny!" Naruto glared at Neji and crossed his arms. "Besides, they need a replacement for Shikamaru until he recovers."

"Not that again." Neji nodded his head in disbelief. "Pathetic."

Some time later Kakashi came up to the group. He was holding a book in one hand and fiercely scratching his face through his mask with the other. "Why are you late this time?" Naruto asked turning his attention from Neji. "And what's with the scratching?" Kakashi approached the group without giving Naruto a second look.

"Now listen up, guys. I'm only going to explain this once." Kakashi said getting the attention of the jounin and genin chosen for the mission. They all had annoyed expressions on their faces after waiting two hours for Kakashi to arrive. Sasuke's face remained expressionless. "Cheer up, everyone! Why is Sasuke the only one here that doesn't look bored out of his mind?"

"That's because he got laid last night!" Naruto responded cheerfully. The added sounds of snickering from his fellow shinobi made Sasuke blush a little and glare at the bigmouthed ninja.

"What does that mean?" Michio asked.

"It means he got some." An older member of Sasuke's team boldly answered. He was about to laugh but one sharp look from Sasuke's shariganed eyes immediately shut the boy up.

"I hope you're not too worn out then, Sasuke." Kakashi said in a deliberate attempt to embarrass Sasuke even further.

"Got some what, Sasuke sensei?" Michio asked, focusing his large eyes into Sasuke's. Sasuke and the others pretended not to hear him. _Boy_ was this wrong time for a seven-year-old's curiosity to show.

"Can we just get on with it?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Is that what Ino said last night?" Naruto joked. This made everyone except Sasuke and Rock Lee burst into laughter. A hard fist came down on Naruto's head.

"Will you watch what you're saying, Naruto?" Tenten half snickered and half scolded, "There are kids here!"

"Okay that's enough." Kakashi said raising his hand in order to regain their attention. "This is a relatively exclusive mission that really should not even be classified as a mission. For all of the genin, it will be more like a training session." Kakashi pulled out a diagram and made a few hand signs. A three dimensional image of a large one-story building appeared in front of them. "Here's the scenario." Kakashi began. "This is the location of a chest were a scared scroll is kept on the far end of the smallest village in the Fire Country. There had been sightings of a mysterious person trying to break in, possibly to steal the scroll. Your mission is to infiltrate this building and gather the scroll before this mysterious person does."

"You've got to be kidding." Chouji spoke up. "That's chunin work!"

"If they're going to participate in the in the upcoming chunin exams they need to gain as much experience as possible." Kakashi explained.

"Who came up with that idea?" Neji asked, evidently jealous of the fact that he was denied this kind of special training before he took the chunin exam.

"Probably the same person who said it's okay to screw your cousin on a daily basis!" Naruto mused. This earned another hard fist coming down on his head.

"Can we focus, Naruto?" Kakashi asked impatiently.

"All right!" Naruto rubbed the large knot that formed on the top of his head. "What about this mysterious person?"

"Not much is known about him." Kakashi explained. " There have been reports of mysterious deaths of a lot of top ninja from other villages. There is also a report of one instance were a group of about ten jounin had him surrounded. After a brief battle all ten were found dead and the person vanished. What you are to do is work together and formulate a plan on how to break into the building and grab this scroll. Remember that there are traps and the possibility of this mysterious person showing up. The first team to retrieve this scroll will be among the first selected to take the chunin exam. All right. Let's begin."

The jounins eagerly watched as their genin huddled into their groups and talked among themselves. Sasuke was exceptionally proud of his team who was the first to come up with a reason able plan. Neji's team came in next, followed by Lee's, Chouji's and Tenten's. Shikamaru's team, who had Naruto for a substitute, was still having trouble. Not because they couldn't think of a plan, but mostly because Naruto and the squad couldn't agree on anything.

"Naruto sensei," one of the team members called to him adjusting his glasses, "I think we should find a way to cover the four cardinal directions."

"Car-din-nul…" Naruto had a look of confusion in his eyes.

"North, South, East, and West, Dumbass!" Sasuke sighed.

"_Man, what a squad of GEEKS_!" Naruto thought before answering. "Ah yeah…you mean cover the parymiter." Shikamaru's team looked at Naruto with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"I think he means perimeter." Tenten clarified.

"Then," continued the quad member " We should all walk forty-five degrees and then walk fifty paces diagonally-"

"BOR-RING!" Naruto interrupted. "Shikamaru's got you too focused on the technical mathematical stuff. I got a better idea."

"Perhaps you should let them do it they're own way, Naruto." Kakashi said in between his facial scratches.

"All right." Naruto retorted angrily. "But who's going to take the blame when they all get killed because they were too busy trying to figure out the square root of their next move during a fight! I mean... what are they going to do, say 'could you please refrain from hitting me for the next few minutes while I calculate the force and the distance of your punches so I can figure out how much time I have to duck?' "

"Naruto as our sensei…how troublesome." One of the members of his team sighed.

Once the teams had all of their plans devised, they all set out for the testing grounds were the building was located. The seven jounin waited outside while their teams went inside to look for the scroll. Kakashi seated himself against a tree and opened his book. Lee sat about fifty feet away from the others and spent his time staring aimlessly into the sky repeating Sakura's name over and over again.

"Will someone PLEASE give me a stick so I can shut this guy up?" Everyone gave Naruto a look."I mean put him out of his misery?" Naruto exclaimed between Lee's choruses of "_Oh Sakura, my Sakura_". No doubt Naruto was the only person in the village with almost no compassion for Lee. (Surprise, surprise) He turned away and watched as Shikamaru's team stood outside the building, measuring the area with their steps. In order for them to hear each other as they walked further apart, they yelled the instructions so loud that all of the jounin could hear them.

"Okay. North, East, and West covered. The wind is blowing north about fifteen miles per hour. Move fifty paces to the left, move at a ninety degree angle, take the square root of two hundred and eighty-six and walk that number of steps…"

"Why are they wasting time calculating their steps!" Naruto's eyes went blank and he put his hands on either side of his face. "They're supposed to be breaking in the building!"

"Just watch." Kakashi said looking up from his book, still scratching his face. Naruto looked into Kakashi's exposed eye, which was red and looked irritated.

"You know you should really get that looked at."

"Ready!" The jounin heard a member of Shikamaru's team shout. " Teammate's position…detected. Teammate's chakra…detected. One…two…three!" All three of the genin darted toward the house so fast that all that could be seen were comet like streaks trailing behind them before all three of them completely disappeared. Everyone looked in amazement when they saw all three of them inside the building and waving to them from a window.

"Wow! There're good." Naruto couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"Shikamaru devised that tactic." Chouji said. "We haven't quite figured out how he came up with that."

"I'll tell you how," Naruto said. "What we were looking at where shadow clones. We were so busy watching them map out their steps that we didn't notice them breaking in on the other side of the building." Everyone stared at Naruto blankly. "What, you didn't see it?" More blank stares. "Two hundred and eighty-six doesn't even HAVE a square root. I can't BELIEVE you didn't notice that!"

"Technically it does." One member of Shikamaru's team appeared from out of nowhere. "It's 16. 9115-"

"Will you get out of here!" Naruto shouted and pointed to the building. The young squad member was gone in the blink of an eye. "I hate shadow clones!" Naruto sighed.

"Secret's out." Kakashi said, still scratching his face.

"Kakashi sensei," Naruto addressed, "you really should get that looked at."

Chouji looked away from the crowd- unquestionably hiding his shame in the fact that he didn't figure such a simple jutsu trick before Naruto had. Sasuke remained in the same position but his eyes alone said that he was also feeling kind of stupid. The others hid their faces in shame as well.

"The mysterious person is just a jutsu created illusion." Kakashi explained. "It won't do any harm though it might scare them a little."

"This mission is dumb." Sasuke said as he sat on the ground with his elbows on his knees and his hands in front of his mouth. "There has to be something more to this than looking for a scroll."

"You're right, Sasuke." Kakashi answered. "Just wait for a few minutes. You'll see what happens." Sasuke didn't answer so Kakashi changed the subject. "So Tenten, I hear congratulations are in order." Everyone turned their attention to a beet- red Tenten. "I've heard about your engagement to the Kazekage Gaara."

"Wait a minute!" Naruto said loudly with bulging eyes. "Tenten's engaged to Gaara? You mean Gaara of the Sand? Gaara of the Mole People? Gaara 'I'm as dry as the desert I'm from' Gaara? Gaara 'What I lack in eyebrows I can't even make up for in height' Gaara? Gaara-"

"We get it, Naruto." Neji interrupted.

"Wait I have another one…"

"Will you stop being an idiot?" Sasuke said hitting Naruto hard on the back of the head. "As always, you're late. Tenten got engaged to Gaara the day before yesterday."

"I had no idea you two were dating." Naruto said to Tenten.

"We weren't." Tenten answered back. "It's kind of a last minute arrangement." Naruto was shocked beyond reason. So, Tenten is engaged to Gaara. Gaara of the Sand…Gaara "why must I look like a raccoon on crack?" Gaara. So odd, so odd.

Just then Chouji noticed someone dressed in all black wandering around the building then vanish into thin air. "Wow. I just saw something scary."

"What, an empty potato chip bag?" Naruto responded, earning a glower from Chouji.

"Hey Chouji, Neji, Sasuke." Tenten called pulling out a newspaper from under her vest. "Did you see this issue of the Kohona news? Take a look at the cover story." They all gathered around Tenten and looked at the front page featuring a picture of Iruka getting caught peeking in on Kakashi who was bathing in a nearby hot spring.

"What the hell?" Kakashi snatched up the paper. "So he wasn't out completing a spying mission in the Land of Water that day."

"Yes he was!" Neji laughed hysterically. "This is better than Naruto got caught fondling himself in female form! I think the article was called 'Local Leaf Nin caught doing 'Sexy-no-jutsu no-no!'"

"Lousy little gossip pervert." Naruto growled under his breath.

Kakashi turned the page. " I wouldn't laugh if I were you, Neji." Kakashi opened up a section of the paper with a feature story of he and a dark haired female lip locking on the ground underneath a park bench. Her face couldn't be seen, but Kakashi and the others had a pretty good idea as to who it was.

"That's not funny!" Neji snatched the paper out of Kakashi's hands. He quickly turned the page and found the latest Cherry Blossom articles. "_I see my submission's not here yet_. Did you all read the latest addition of Dear Cherry Blossom? This person's a genius. I'm always writing whenever I'm having a few…issues with Hinata."

"Oh yeah, the famous 'Dear Cherry Blossom'. Bringing two cousins together…just not in a good way." Naruto mused. "You actually trust some stranger with your personal life?"

"This person's helped a lot of people in the village." Tenten said.

"Is that why Lee's over there banging his head against a tree?"

"Just listen to this article." Tenten began reading the article aloud…

_Dear Cherry blossom,_

_A number of years ago I've taken in a small child who has been my sole companion until adulthood. Ever since I found him, he's promised to be my personal tool for the rest of his life. He even went as far as saying that he'd give his life for me. I trained and took care of him throughout his teenage years, but I all I saw in him was a tool to do my bidding. Eventually, I developed feelings for him and we developed a father/son kind of relationship. The problem is, everywhere we went people have been looking at us strangely since he was a teenager. They somehow learned that he was not my son and I fear they may be thinking a few other things about us even though I haven't laid a hand on the boy. Another problem is, he's become excessively clingy. Am I wrong to use him as my personal tool? And more importantly, how do I stop people from talking about us with out having to kill them?_

"That's just stupid!" Naruto interrupted. "The person practically tells this guy 'I'll gladly be your lifelong bitch' and he's complaining! What could he possibly have to complain about!"

"Let her finish, Naruto!" Neji said. "Skip down to the part where Cherry Blossom answers, Tenten."

"She basically says not to worry about what others think but they should consider a trial separation."

"Forget trial separation! This 'boy' is WAY too obsessive and needs to get his own life!" Naruto snatched the paper and looked through some more pages.

"Hey, Sasuke." Chouji called out despite the fact that his mouth was full of some kind of unidentifiable substance. (Potato chips, a sandwich, a squirrel…whatever) "Did you ever think about writing to this person? Maybe that'll help you and Ino." Sasuke didn't answer.

"He doesn't have to," Naruto responded loud enough for everyone to hear. "If this jerk would just get his act together, then everything will be alright! Ino's not the one to blame for this. Tell him, Neji. You used to date her, right?"

"For like a week." Neji answered. (It was actually a little longer than that. Eh, details)

"Shut the hell up, Naruto!" Sasuke could feel the tension boiling inside of him.

"You know it's all your fault!" Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other so hard that lighting bolts shout out of their eyes and crashed against each other.

Naruto took a break from his accusations and turned his attention to the newspaper. "Who's writing this stuff anyway? I'm going to find out who's spying on us and catching us in our most inopportune moments. Then I'm going to kill him!" Everyone just sat still and stared vacantly. "Uh, well maybe just hurt him a little."

"Naruto, we're in no mood to hear your declaration of incompetence!" Sasuke stood up and faced Naruto with his muscles tensed and fire in his eyes. Naruto clenched his fists knowing that a fight would not be far off. They both got ready to charge at each other but were distracted by bloodcurdling screams and six of the genin running as fast as they could out of the building.

"What's going on, guys?" Naruto asked as the jounin gathered around the frightened children.

"Look!" One of them pointed in the direction of the building. Everyone was startled to see about three ninja surrounding the building and coming closer towards them. "T-t-there's s-s-something in there, and it's g-g-got Michio!" One of them said with a voice so shaky that let could barely understand. "I think he's dead!"

"So why didn't all of you stay inside and fight? These genin are no more fit to be chunin than Naruto is anywhere in the civilized world." Sasuke sighed. "He's on my squad so I'll go in after him."

"It's started!" Kakashi yelled "Don't get too mad at them because this was all a part of a mission…OUR mission. We were tipped off of a possible invasion and we needed a trap to lure some of them over here. These are believed to be new S-class ninja so your squads are almost powerless against them without our help."

Neji used his Byakugan jutsu to find were the team of enemy ninja was coming from. "Over there!" Neji pointed to a section of the woods.

"Some other jounin are on the way from the village. We're going to have to move out quickly!" Kakashi ordered. "Sasuke, you go in and get Michio. Tenten, you go find the others and bring them here. Neji, Chouji, Lee, come with me!" Kakashi ran in the direction of the invading ninja with everyone but Sasuke and Naruto following him.

"Hey, what about me?" Naruto asked.

"Do what you do best, Naruto. Stay here and collect dust." Sasuke ran into the building.

Sasuke entered and searched through and endless amount of rooms calling his young student's name. "_Oh great_" Sasuke thought to himself. "_Bad enough I'm in the world's most dangerous fun house looking for some cowardly team members and trying to avoid certain death with an endless barrage of traps, but _HE_ just _HAD_ to come in here with me."_

"Don't think I don't know what you meant by that smart ass remark, you…smart ass!" Naruto exclaimed from behind him.

"Let's just split up. You take that side, and I'll take this side. And for goodness sakes be careful, there're traps everywhere."

"Fine with me." Naruto said beforegoing arounda corner.

"_Thank goodness_." Sasuke continued searching through the rooms until he found the boy curled up in the fetal position and shivering in a corner. "And you call yourself a shinobi." Sasuke said displeasingly. He bent down in an effort to help the boy stand up, but as soon as he touched him he felt a warm liquid that soaked through Michio's clothing. When Sasuke pulled his hand away, he discovered that it was covered with blood. "So you've been injured. Don't move. I'm going to get you out of here."

"He's over there." The genin said, feebly pointing to a dark figure dressed in black standing across from them. Sasuke narrowly avoided a bombardment of shurikan thatthe darkfigure aimed at his head. He pulled out his own arsenal of weapons and was about to start fighting when Naruto came running in yelling, " The others have found their way out, but I can't find Michio!"

Before Sasuke could say anything Naruto ran into him, causing him to step on a block that sank into the floor. A low rumble could be heard from where they were standing. "Ah shit…GET DOWN!" Sasuke was fast to push the clumsy ninja down before a number of arrows came shooting from a wall in their direction. Unfortunately, Naruto had to be difficult and not go down fast enough. The extreme pain of the arrow going through Sasuke's shoulder was enough to make The Great Uchiha Heir's eyes water.

"That looked like it hurt!" Naruto said observing the arrow sticking out of his comrade's back.

"You think?" Sasuke said as he got to his feet and pulled the arrow out. "He's not a jutsu created ninja. You get Michio out of here. I'll take care of this guy."

"Oh shit, there he is!" Naruto prepared himself to attack the figure standing in the corner trying to avoid the few remaining arrows that shot out of the walls. "You can't fight with your shoulder like that. I'm staying here!" Abruptly, the dark figure ran of the room and Sasuke left to follow after him.

"Naruto, stay with Michio until one of the others finds you!" Sasuke commanded. Naruto wanted to be the one to go after the mysterious ninja, but Sasuke left before he could say anything.

"Sasuke sensei?" Michio said weakly. "I tried to fight him."

"Don't worry, little guy. Someone will be here soon." Naruto said cradling the boy in his arms. "I won't leave you here alone." Just then Kakashi came charging into he room.

"Naruto,have you seen the ninja?" Kakashi had his headband lifted exposing his sharinganed eye.

"Sasuke went after him. I have to go help him but I can't leave the genin here."

"The others have arrived and I'm going back outside. Whatever you do, do not leave the boy alone. And if you see the ninja, try not to kill him unless you have to!" Kakashi darted out of the room so fast that it almost looked like he just disappeared.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and followed the ninja into another empty room. This room had no windows with only one door and Sasuke was blocking the only exit. Sasuke had the ninja trapped, making a fight impossible to avoid. Channeling some chakra into him palm, a chidori energy sphere that shot out lighting bolts surrounded Sasuke's hand and shot out towards his opponent. A brilliant white light filled the entire room once the target was hit and slowly began to recede. Once all of the light cleared away, the ninja had disappeared completely, leaving Sasuke alone and sinking to his knees from the loss of so much chakra at once.

"That was too easy." Sasuke said breathing heavily. "Something's not right here." He stood up and scanned the area of the room but could find no trace of the ninja. Suddenly, a breeze of wind flashed by and Sasuke ducked, barely dodging a flying kick to the head. Sasuke got up faced his opponent head on. He threw a few punches before doing some hand signs to create his fire jutsu. Strangely, the other ninja was able to dodge every strike Sasuke threw at him. He instantly came to the realization that this was an unusually strong opponent and the basic attacks that he had been using would not be enough. He was about to reach into his bag of advanced attacks when he heard a familiar voice coming from outside the door.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, running into the room with Michio in his arms "Let me help you!"

"Naruto, get him out of here!" Seeing that Sasuke had let his guard down the ninja made a few hand signs and sent a wave of chakra that knocked Sasuke off his feet and sent him full force into a wall. The last thing Sasuke saw before he blacked out completely was a faint red glow from the ninja's eyes as he made fire jutsu hand signs and set the ground around Sasuke's body on fire.

"Sasuke!" Naruto put he boy down as gently as he could and faced this mysterious person. The bottom half of his face was covered with a mask similar to Kakashi's, so Naruto couldn't identify who it was. Naruto looked straight at the person's eyes, which where strangely tinted an odd shade of red, and prepared to fight. That's when he noticed that the fire around Sasuke's body was burning quickly, forcing Naruto to make the difficult decision of either fighting, getting Michio out of the building, or getting Sasuke out of the fire. These were the moments that Naruto feared most.

Confronted with an almost impossible decision, Naruto felt trapped and out of control. This was all Kyuubi needed to start pouring out red chakra in order to protect his container. Naruto fought hard to keep the red charka forming around him under control and he succeeded by focusing the chakra into the palm of his hand in the form of a Rasengan sphere. He was about to hurl it into the dark strangers direction, but instead allowed it to dissipate so that he could get to Sasuke. Seizing the opportunity to escape the dark figure ran out the room, but not before leaving behind a small object with a scroll attached to it.

Still somewhat under Kyuubi's influence, Naruto ran through the flames and pulled Sasuke out of danger. Before he could reach Michio's body the object blew up with a huge explosion that caused the ceiling and the walls to trembling and caving in. Large bricks and boards of wood slammed against Naruto's body as he Naruto picked up Michio's body with one hand and helped a now half conscious Sasuke pull himself up with the other. He managed to get the both of them out of the room just before the entrance became completely blocked with the falling debris.

Naruto's ordeal wasn't over yet. Now he to find his way out of the endless maze of hallways while the building collapsed around him. No matter which hall he ran through, they all seemed to come to a dead end. The dust spreading rapidly through the air didn't make things any easier for him either. Naruto could feel his energy rapidly draining from his body, but he pushed on. It was getting increasingly harder to breathe and the blood pouring from Michio's body made it hard to hold on to him.

At that moment he saw another dark figure materializing through the thick wall of dust. Feeling that the enemy ninja had returned for a second round, Naruto began to get that out of control feeling again. He was able to keep Kyuubi from possessing him when he realized it was Lee. "Is everyone still alive?" Lee asked as soon as he saw the three. Before Naruto could explain is dilemma, Lee snatched Michio's body, uttered a swift "Follow me", and led Naruto through the maze dodging the falling bricks along the way.

They made it out to where the others were standing after finishing the battle outside. Almost everyone was worn out and sustained a few injuries. One of the worst was Tenten. She was being led to the group by Neji with her hand clutching the front of her head as blood oozed out from beneath her fingers. The poor girl had been hit in the head.

"Hey, Sasuke! Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he laid Sasuke's body on the ground.

Sasuke opened his eyes and waited a few seconds for the blurry figure above him to take shape. "Why didn't you get him when you had the chance, Naruto?"

"Um…well…what, was I supposed to just let you burn to death?"

Sasuke tried to stand up but as he put is weight on one of his legs, he cringed and fell back on the ground. Everyone observed Sasuke's leg and noticed that it was swollen and turning bluish in color.

"It might be broken." Kakashi speculated. "We need to get him and the boy to the medic's right now." Everyone gathered together and headed towards the village. Naruto helped Sasuke stand up and supported him as he walked.

"Why did you risk your life like that, Naruto? Sasuke said while trying not to put too much weight on his bad foot.

"You have a wife and…" Naruto's face turned bright red. "You know that I've seen you, uh that is I almost see you as a brother. I couldn't just let you die like that." Naruto answered. Sasuke was stunned to see how much Naruto valued their friendship, but then he shook off the mild feeling of awkwardness.

"So what? Am I your best friend or something?" Sasuke noticed that Naruto face was turning even brighter in color.

"I didn't say that!" Naruto was trying his hardest to hide his embarrassment.

"Naruto," Sasuke smirked, "you really are an idiot."

* * *

_A/N: Hmmm…so we got a little adventure going on. What's up with this mysterious person? What happened to Shikamaru that apparently happened before? And what's with the scratching, Kakashi? Makes you think, huh? _

_Skykat: Hey Donny, I think Neji's got something with that cousin on cousin action. What do you think?_

_Donny: I think you've been a teenage virgin for too long._

_Skykat: Does that mean you agree?_

_Donny: It means if you ever say something like that to me again, I'll hurt you severely. _

_Skykat: Geek! It was just a joke! Sheesh! Can I kiss you, though?_

_Donny: That's It! I'm outta here! (Runs away screaming) _

_Chica can't take a joke. Okay. It's been taking a little while longer for me to get these updates out because I've been sick again. It's no biggie, just something I've had problems with since I was little. But reading your reviews motivates me to keep on writing. I split this chap in half. Cousin Donny got 1 half and I got the other. (Can you tell who wrote what? I hope not!) Please forgive her; she's fairly new to Naruto. Chaps 4 and 5 are almost done and will come out soon._

_Remember everyone…Gimme motivation! Gimme suggestions! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Until chapter 4 everyone!_


	4. The journey home: Keep your spirits up!

**Dear Cherryblossom A.K.A. Sweet Serenity**

**Fun fact**: _Why does the story have two titles you wonder? I'll tell you. The plot is loosely based on a Spanish drama story that Donny was working on. I thought it was really good so far, but she refused to finish it. So, me being the caring cousin that I am, I borrowed her story and submitted it into her fanfic account. (Which I kind of took over) I changed the plot a little to fit the Naruto characters and I tried to translate it into English. Yes, the name of her original story is "Serenidad Dulce" or "Sweet Serenity". Problem is, I have no idea what comes next.(I hate writer's block!)_

**Donny**: _Too bad for you, my cousin. I'm reclaiming the story because your English sucks, you can't translate for shit, and I'm not letting you know how it ends! (Nyah!) That's why I'm the writer and the artist of the family and you're just my shadow._

**Skykat**_: That hurts._

**Donny**_: I guess I should thank you, so I'm dedicating this story to you... I'm also taking back my account and trashing your bio._

_I'm having a little trouble with the ending of chapter four, so I came up with this filler. This will now serve as chapter four and the next chap will be chapter five. There are some important things here, but afterward, it just gets kind of silly. (An OMAKE I think it's called?) Here's the challenge. When you get to the crazy part of the story, try reading it OUT LOUD. (To add to the challenge...make sure there are other people in the room!) You'll know when it starts._

Dawn E. "KayT" Sky

**Summary**: After the battle, Naruto and his fellow ninja are very down and upset. It's up to Naruto to lift their spirits and temporarily make them forget their pain.

**Warning**: Before you read this chapter and go "WTF!", remember I'm having trouble with the next chapter and this is just a filler. If I don't get this build up of craziness out of my head, I'm going to totally space out.

(P.S. FF won't let me insert lines. I'll have to use underlined X's for now)

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX **

**Chapter 4** The journey home. Keep your spirits up!

The trip to the medic's was an arduous one. Morning was barely over yet and each of the weary jonin and genin had to drag themselves along the lengthy trail that would take them back to the village. The sun was blaring through the trees and the scorching rays showed no mercy to the miserable shinobi practically crawling through woods. There was no covering up the atmosphere of anxiety. The jonin were upset because they were unable to catch this mysterious ninja. The genin were upset because they failed their first real "mission". Those who trained squads were upset because some of their students fled the battle scene. Some of the genin where visibly upset, others tried to hide their disappointment by re-enacting how they kicked enemy butt during the battle out side the building; a feat that would have proven to be unachievable had it been done without the help of the jonin.

Some of them had more than themselves to worry about. Neji had one arm wrapped around Tenten's shoulders and the other wrapped around her front. After receiving such a hard blow to the head, she was dizzy with fuzzy vision and unable to walk in a straight line on her own. The blood that continued to trickle from the gash on the top of her head had formed a long stream that trailed down the front of her face and dripped from her chin onto Neji's arm. Michio was still unconscious from the loss of blood and chakra and Lee walked behind everyone with the seven-year-old dangling in his arms. Kakashi and Genma spoke to each of the shinobi individually to see if they had noticed anything during the battle.

Naruto had the hardest task of having to support a majority of Sasuke's shifting weight on his shoulders. It was extremely difficult for the beaten down Uchiha heir to swallow his pride and allow himself to be helped. He tried his hardest to walk on his swollen leg as if by some miracle, simply ignoring the pain would make it go away on its own. He was able to not pay much attention to the soreness of the injury that the arrow left behind in his shoulder, but the searing pain in his leg was not so easy. With every stumble, Naruto was growing increasingly tired of his rival's inability to admit defeat.

"Quit trying to walk on it or I'm going to chop it off!" Naruto's eyes went blank and he held up his tightened fist.

"You can let go of me now." Sasuke said irately. "I think I can walk on my own."

"I got another thought for you." Naruto argued. "You're leg's broken. You're not walking _anywhere_ on your own." Naruto was feeling Sasuke try to wiggle his way out of his hold, so he held his arm around Sasuke's waist even harder.

"My leg is not broken and I can walk on my own." Sasuke managed to push his body away from Naruto's. He hardly made one step before flinching in pain and crashing to the ground. Pretending that there was nothing wrong with his leg wasn't going to work. Why was this happening? There's no way that his leg could be broken. Things like this didn't happen to the Great Uchiha Heir…

So what if it hurts worse than the pain he felt while trapped inside Haku's crystal ice mirrors and getting stabbed with a thousand needles of death.

So what if it was almost bent in a way that should not be humanly possible for a leg to bend in.

So what if it was turning bluer than his shirt with his clan's emblem on the back.

So what if his foot was so swollen that his shoe had to be taken off because it was cutting off his circulation.

So what if he would have better luck moving the mountains with the Hokage faces craved in them than moving his own toes. There has be some other rational explanation for this. (Can anyone say "denial"?)

"For the sake of any children you that have in the future, I hope being stubborn doesn't run in the family. It doesn't take a genius to see that your leg is hurting like a bitch and your foot is pointing in a direction that can't even be found on a compass!" Naruto bent down to help Sasuke back up but Sasuke still struggled against him.

"Let me go! I can walk on my own and I don't need your help!" Sasuke glared at his rival. Was this guy for real? Naruto wondered. There must be a major chapter in the "_How to be a Successful Uchiha_" handbook that covered how not to accept the aid of others without being a bitchy crab to everyone offering it. Sasuke would sooner loose all four of his limbs before he'd finally confess that he needed help.

Sasuke was too stubborn for his own good. Sure, this falls under the category of teamwork, but to him, showing any sign of weakness was a curse. No matter how large or minuscule the weakness may be, ANY form of weakness would almost always lead to failure. But then again, there is the whole thing involving his last battle with his brother…no, that wasn't weakness. That was stealth. There was no way that weakness of any form would be tolerated. This was why he was able to rescue his friends countless times, why he was able to become the greatest ninja in the village, and why he was able to defeat his brother.

There are not a lot of similarities in the way Naruto viewed the subject. Everyone has a weakness and there was no hiding from that. Sasuke had weaknesses. In fact, he had too many to count. Little does Sasuke know that he was showing one of his weaknesses that very moment. His unsuccessful attempts at walking on his own, the frustrated growls that he made every time he stumbled, the sweat that rolled down his tensed face… only served to prove that Sasuke was feeling that his masculinity was in jeopardy. He has a fear of one day not being strong enough to carry his own weight. That was a weakness. It was true that they both had different perceptions of the issue. This was one of the many reasons that Naruto made the perfect counter balance to his former teammate.

"Won't you ever accept the fact that you're inclined to rely on others for help sometimes? Why do you have to be so obsessed with trying to prove that you're so strong? You're more obsessive now than you were when you were training to kill your brother!" Naruto pulled Sasuke off the ground and once again held tightly onto his body.

"I was not obsessive." Sasuke said defensively. Naruto's accusation gave Sasuke something else to think about. There are a lot of words to describe Sasuke's quest to destroy his brother. But obsessive? Just because it was his life's goal… his only reason for living…his sole purpose in life…his burning desire…the last thing he thought about before he went to bed…the first thing he thought about when he woke up…the constant gnawing in the back of his mind…the only reason he stooped to kissing the ass of that snake freak of nature…that doesn't mean he was obsessive. He was an avenger. There are definitely a lot of words to describe Sasuke's quest to destroy his brother. "_Obsessive_" certainly was not one of them. (Once again, denial rears its ugly head.)

"Not obsessive? Oh please!", Naruto shouted. "All you ever did was talk about annihilating a 'certain someone'. I bet if you could have figured out how to do it, you would have found some way to off him, and then bring him back to life so that you could off him again! Now, all you ever do with your free time is find new ways to torment your brother. I'm sure you have your 'special weapon' in your pocket now!" Naruto waited for a reaction but got nothing. Sasuke had no reason to react because Naruto was right. Sasuke sometimes kept a black magic marker in his pocket. This was his favorite weapon to use on Itachi while he slept. Boy, did Sasuke wish he could have seen the look on Itachi's face when he woke up to find the word "_EMASCULATED_" printed on his forehead.

"Is everything alright back here?" Kakashi asked, slowing his pace so that the stragglers behind him would have a chance to reach him.

"We're doing okay here." Naruto answered despite Sasuke's obvious appearance of utter failure.

"Good. I need to ask you a few questions. Did you manage to get a good look at the ninja's face?" Kakashi asked, beginning his interrogation.

"It was covered with a mask." Naruto recalled. "All we saw were the eyes. They were unreal."

"They were glowing red." Sasuke cut in. "The eyes looked so familiar, but I can't figure out where I've seen them before." Sasuke stared down at his bad foot. "When I looked into his eyes, my mind just got so mystified. I found myself barely able to keep up with him as we fought. Somehow he completely dodged everything I threw at him."

"The same thing with me." Naruto responded. "I was getting so confused that I had to fight to keep my Red Chakra under control."

Kakashi asked his next question. "Did you notice anything odd about the way this person attacked?"

"He used my clan's fire jutsu technique." Sasuke said with a hint of astonishment in his voice. "There's no way he could have learned that unless…" Sasuke paused.

"Unless what?" Naruto asked.

"Unless he comes from a bloodline with similar fire style jutsu techniques. I didn't think very many existed outside of my clan." Sasuke was bewildered. He was positive that he had never seen this ninja before, but at the same time he could almost recognize the ninja's eyes. He knew that other clans could very well have developed some forms of fire style jutsu, but he remembered seeing the ninja make the hand signs before he blacked out. That's when Sasuke realized that they were exactly the same as the hand signs his clan used.

"This has happened before." Kakashi told them. "Some time ago ten jonin from another village were killed while this ninja was present. The ones that witnessed what happened reported the same thing."

"You mean that story was true?" Naruto's outburst and a sudden jolt in his body caused Sasuke lose his balance and hit the ground again. "Oops. Sorry about that." Naruto helped Sasuke get back on his foot.

"I'm afraid so." Kakashi said. "Genma and I have asked some of the genin what they saw. None of them can remember clearly. This is an unusually skilled ninja that we're dealing with."

"Sasuke sensei?" One of the older members of Sasuke's came up to him. "Is you leg going to be alright? Can you walk on it at all?"

"Get away from me." Sasuke growled. The young ninja embarrassingly hung his head low rejoined his group of fellow genin. Sasuke was mad; through it was hard for them to tell precisely what he was mad at. "Where's the boy?" he asked a few seconds later.

"He's with Lee." Kakashi responded. "He looks pretty bad, but at least he's still breathing. We stopped his bleeding for now." Sasuke looked back. It hurt him to see the once energetic and adventurous little genin just hanging lifelessly in Lee's arms with his entire front covered in his own blood. Michio had to have stared death in the face right up until the moment he was stabbed. Sasuke didn't want to see him die. Nor he did he want to think of the agony his youngest student must have been in before he passed out from the loss of so much blood.

"Don't worry about him." Naruto assured. "As soon as we get back, Sakura and Tsunade will take good care of him. Then, we'll get Ino and she'll take care of you." Naruto looked over his shoulder and watched as Lee staggered far behind the rest of the group, not bothered by the fact that even Naruto and a limping Sasuke were traveling faster than he was.

"Naruto," Chouji said walking along the other side of Sasuke. "I think you should go talk to him. I'll take over keeping Sasuke off his foot."

"You're right. I'm on it." Naruto let go of Sasuke and went back to where Lee was. "Hey, Lee…I…thanks. Thanks for helping me --US out of the building." Lee smiled at Naruto with his trademark mile long toothy "nice guy" smile-- complete with the little split-second star-shaped twinkle on his teeth--but Naruto could easily tell it was an act. Lee's eyes alone said that he wasn't feeling like much of a hero and Naruto was actually beginning to feel sorry for him. He almost wished that Sakura didn't hurt him so badly by blowing him off the way she did. ("_Almost_" being the key word.)

When Naruto felt that he said all that he could say to Lee, sped up in order to catch up to Sasuke again, but was stopped when Sasuke's two genin called his name.

"What's with Sasuke sensei? Is he mad at us?" One of them asked with a look of regret. "He's not looking at us and he won't even let me talk to him."

"You know your sensei." Naruto replied. "He's just being Sasuke…expressionless, indifferent, introverted, pain in the ass to everyone Sasuke. But I'm sure once he hears how well you fought, he'll tell you how proud of you he is."

"I think that's the problem. I didn't fight. I-I ran away and I can't remember why." The genin said sadly. His eyes were watering but he tried to hold back his tears and take after his sensei by refusing to show his true emotions.

"I'll go talk to him." Naruto once again sped up his pace and caught up to Sasuke and Chouji. "Your squad thinks you're mad at them, Sasuke. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them that they failed me and the team." Sasuke said while focusing on his foot. "My squad is the top of their class and one of the best in the village. How could they runaway like that?"

"They got scared and they choked." Naruto explained. "It happens to all the genin."

"Not to mine." Sasuke snapped. "I will not accept weakness in my squad." (In other words, they were going to GET IT during their next training session.) Naruto hated the fact that old sourpuss Sasuke was looking down on his team. Sasuke's actions took Naruto back to when he was often looked down on because of stupid mistakes. Those weren't the best memories. It's just not right to burden a young ninja in training with the same mind-set of worthlessness.

"You're one to talk. Who just got his butt kicked?" Naruto pointed out for the solitary purpose of making Sasuke feel stupid. "From what I remember you went sailing into a nearby wall." (Naruto may have had something to do with making Sasuke drop his guard, but it's unlike an Uchiha to make excuses and put the blame on someone else.)

"You're looking banged up yourself." Sasuke said, noticing the bruises that covered Naruto's body.

"That happened when I was getting pummeled with falling bricks while trying to carry your heavy incapacitated ass out of the building." It didn't take much for Naruto to pick up that reminding Sasuke of how he got in this current position could lead to another session of verbal blows. Perhaps giving him something better to think about will help him out of this apparently genetically programmed grouchy mood for a little while. What could be better than one's own woman? "Judging from those fingernail shaped scars on your arms, I bet when Ino sees you all black and blue, she's going to finish the job. Right, Chouji?"

"Ino's not like that." Chouji retorted. "She would never get violent with Sasuke. I know she's a wonderful girl and the perfect wife…oh goodness, I can't say that with a straight face!"

"You're not helping, Akimichi!" Naruto scowled but somewhat laughed at the same time.

"I know Ino's a good person." Chouji said. " The problem is she's bossy. And she's possessive. And she's competitive. And there's the whole thing about her looks. We all know that she can't pass a mirror without gazing at her reflection. Well, a mirror… a store window… the lenses on dark sunglasses…" Chouji paused to think for a bit.

"Metal spoons… bald guys with shiny heads… mud puddles and anything else that contains water..." Naruto continued. He was only joking, but he soon realized that _he_ wasn't helping things either. "But she's still a wonderful wife isn't she, Sasuke?" It wasn't too much of a surprise that Sasuke didn't say anything. Naruto never did expect that Sasuke would answer that question.

Naruto stopped and surveyed the scene for a few seconds. The whole scene was too depressing. Everyone was either grieving or paying more attention to the ground than what was directly ahead of them. He imagined that Sasuke probably hadn't had a good laugh ever since his brother smoked his entire family. It was now up to Naruto to lift everyone's spirits and try to liven things up. Hopefully engaging in a little casual conversation could get things going. "Have you heard from Inuzuka Kiba recently?" He asked once he caught back up to Sasuke and Chouji.

"Last I heard he got a girlfriend but broke up with her a few weeks before he lost his dog." Chouji answered.

"No one knows what happened to his dog?" Naruto asked, astonished that the close, yet questionable, relationship between the ninja and his ever-present four legged companion had come to such an abrupt halt.

"No one has a clue." There was a deafening silence and gloomy expressions all around. Time to find something else to talk about.

"When I'm Hokage, there's going to be a lot of changes around here."

"You're still hell-bent on becoming the next Hokage?" Chouji asked passively, unwillingly going along with Naruto's feeble attempts at trying to strike up another conversation. "Do you think you're going to make it?"

"I made it to jonin didn't I?"

"But now you're on the suicide squad, right? Or as we call it 'the squad that's useless for anything else.'"

"First Sasuke, then Neji, now you. Enough with that stupid joke! It's really getting old!"

"I still find it hard to believe that they even let you be a teacher when you became a chunin." No one would ever admit that Naruto was actually a pretty good teacher when he became a chunin and was put in charge of a class. Unfortunately, Naruto was mostly seen as a legend and idolized because of his past as a troublemaker. He was also highly influential and his students wanted to be just like the old him. This meant there was a high demand for learning his famous sexy-no-jutsu technique. He soon got tired of being tied down to a classroom after teaching a little over a year. Once he saw enough harem- no- jutsu shadow clones to make Ebisu's nose bleed buckets for months, Naruto learned to hate his prized jutsu. All of Konoha heaved a collective sigh of relief when he was promoted to jonin, thereby freeing the village of the possibility of classes upon classes full of ramen inhaling, sexy- no- jutsu creating, prank pulling Narutos.

"I _will_ be the next Hokage. Just wait and see." Naruto said confidently.

"We've heard enough, Naruto." Sasuke moaned. "This is no time to be going on about your ridiculous fantasies."

Naruto planted his feet firmly in the ground as watched as everyone steadily walked further ahead of him. He didn't exactly know what more to do to make his comrades temporarily forget their troubles aside from breaking out into a song and dance routine. That wouldn't have been a bad idea if only he had learned background music -no-jutsu. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that all he could expect to get out of that idea was a few projectiles chucked at his head along with a "Your untalented ass is not getting paid to sing" look from Kakashi. Another idea popped into his head. Why not use his black haired comrade's crabby personality to his advantage?

"Hey Sasuke! Hey Sasuke! Hey Sasuke! Check it! Check it! Check it! I got it! I got it! I got it!"

"I hate it, hate it, hate it when you talk like that." Sasuke said as Naruto joyfully ran up to him.

"Oooo, look who's getting all touchy- touchy." Naruto said flirtatiously. "You see how he's getting all touchy-touchy, Chouji?" Chouji smiled but Sasuke still had his look of indifference.

"Yeah, maybe he's little touchy- touchy." Chouji seemed to understand what Naruto was doing but wasn't too sure if he wanted to go along with it.

"Too touchy- touchy for me anyway. Maybe it's because it's too hard for him to walk without the both of us helping him." Naruto said through squinted eyes. "I think we could help him walk faster if we were to be more feely- feely than touchy- touchy."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, knowing that whenever Naruto started acting like a total goofball nothing good ever came of it.

"You're touchy- touchy, so we'll be touchy-touchy too. Or would you rather us be more feely- feely than touchy- touchy?" Naruto mused. Even though Sasuke was ignoring him, Naruto boldly kept going. "I bet if Ino were here, there'd be a lot of touchy-touchy, feely-feely." Sasuke was still being a crab, so Naruto took his plan to a higher level. He slightly leaned closer to Sasuke's ear and whispered, "and perhaps even a little stiffy- stiffy." Sasuke's eyes bulged as Naruto playfully licked the very tip of his earlobe. Sasuke flailed his free arm in an attempt to knock Naruto in the head, but Naruto successfully dodged Sasuke's fist.

"See, Chouji?" Naruto said. "Now he's trying to get all touchy-touchy, feely-feely with me! I think he's keeping a secret that Ino should know about!" Naruto raked his fingers up from the base of Sasuke's neck to the top of his head. "You know your head looks like the back end of a chicken?"

Sasuke jerked his head away from Naruto's hand. "That's enough!" He barked.

"Aw, you don't like me getting touchy-touchy? Maybe a little more feely- feely would suit your taste. What do you think, Chouji?" Naruto was desperate to have Chouji get involved with what he was doing.

"Just let me hit him once!" Sasuke pleaded to Chouji, who was restraining Sasuke's attempt to attack Naruto by holding on too tightly for him to move.

"It's funny to see you get all hoppy- hoppy on that leg." Naruto kept teasing Sasuke by poking at his hand every time Sasuke unsuccessfully tried to hit him. "Touchy-touchy. Huh Chouji?"

"Touchy-touchy? Uh…feely-feely?" Chouji was backed into a corner by his relentless cohort and had to choice but to start talking in doubled vocabulary. May as well have a little fun with it. "You're getting a little feely-feely too, Naruto."

Kakashi was listening to Naruto and Chouji's crazy talk, so he got closer to see exactly what was going on. "Why are you talking like that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, once again scratching his face.

"Looks like Kakashi sensei's still got the scratchy- scratchy!" Naruto laughed.

"Ha! Ha! Scratchy-scratchy because he's itchy- itchy!" Chouji couldn't believe what he was getting himself into, nor could he believe that he was beginning to like it.

Naruto grinned annoyingly. "No, it's Icha- Icha!" Getting the chance to aggravate his former sensei was an added bonus. Things were going better than Naruto thought.

Chouji chuckled. "Icha -Icha, itchy -itchy?" (A/N: Say _that_ three times fast!)

"Itchy-itchy and Icha-Icha! I know why he's itchy- itchy! He's itchy-itchy for more 'Icha-Icha' " the fox-boy said aloud.

"Why do I even bother?" Kakashi rolled his exposed eye and left the three alone to continue their brief lapses into twelve-year-old idiots with the combined IQ of a package of ramen noodles. One can expect Naruto to act like this every now and then, but how in the world did he manage to recruit Chouji? Some questions are best left unanswered.

"So what do you think Naruto, should we do touchy-touchy, feely-feely?" Chouji asked.

"Yeah, touchy-touchy, feely-feely!" Naruto responded. Naruto took Sasuke's free arm and draped it over his shoulder.

"I hope the both of you realize that if you touch or feel _anything_ there will be a risk of severe consequences." Sasuke growled.

"So it will be a risky- risky, touchy- touchy, feely- feely. Maybe we should do this quickie- quickie." Naruto slowly snaked his hand down Sasuke's back. "A quickie- quickie, touchy- touchy, feely- feely won't be so risky- risky."

"Keep it above the waistline, Uzumaki." Sasuke gave Naruto a hostile look.

"Sorry. I can't do that." Naruto said deviously. What was he up to and why was his hand trailing down like that? Yet again, some questions are best left unanswered…too bad this wasn't one of them.

"Me neither." Chouji said while he followed suite and slowly slid his hand down Sasuke's back.

"Stop that!" Sasuke yelled quickly with his eyelid quivering. The pair of hands traveling down his back were getting way too low. The two ninja were not even trying to avoid sliding their hands down his backside. He attempted to pull away from them again, but they weren't allowing him to go anywhere.

"Maybe we're getting too touchy- touchy for him." Chouji acknowledged. "Should we still get a risky- risky, quickie- quickie, touchy- touchy, feely- feely?" Both Naruto and Chouji's arms continued to slide down Sasuke's back until they reached the backs of his thighs and interlocked together. "Remember, Sasuke is tricky. We'll have to be twice as tricky!"

"Tricky-tricky, lifty-lifty?" Naruto asked.

"Tricky-tricky, lifty-lifty." Chouji responded.

"All right!" Naruto exclaimed. "This will be one crazy-crazy, risky-risky, tricky-tricky, quickie-quickie, touchy-touchy, feely-feely, lifty- lifty!"

The genin were watching the whole thing and many of them were cracking a few smiles. Even Kakashi, Neji, Tenten, and the other jonin were smiling despite their physical pain and mental anguish. Sasuke now understood what these problematic males were plotting and he tried to squirm away from them.

"All right get ready, Chouji…" Naruto said slyly. "One…"

"Don't you dare!" Sasuke warned, but it was too late.

Naruto counted to three and the two hoisted Sasuke's body in the air. Sasuke was really feeling embarrassed and awkward. Not only because he was being carried like a princess who refused to walk on the ground in fear of getting her satin shoes dirty, but also because the others were roaring with laughter at the sight of the Great Uchiha Heir seated in between Naruto and Chouji's interlocked arms. He was now their plaything. This is no way for an Uchiha to be treated.

"Put me down!" Sasuke yelled.

"Sounds like you don't like the way we carry you. Are you getting picky?" Naruto roared with laughter. " I think he's getting picky- picky"

"Yeah" Chouji agreed. "He's picky-picky."

"Picky-picky over our crazy-crazy, risky-risky, tricky-tricky, quickie-quickie, touchy-touchy, feely-feely, lifty- lifty!" Naruto barely got that sentence out because of all the laughing. "He's getting a little shifty-shifty--

"Say one more of those stupid things and I'll rip your tongue out of your head!" Sasuke interrupted with a shout.

"Bitchy- bitchy." Naruto muttered quietly, but loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

Sasuke grumbled. If Chouji and Naruto had the ability to perform some sort of special mind reading jutsu, they would probably hear "_I fucking hate the both of you"_ flashing through Sasuke's mind among an increasing number of homicidal thoughts.

"I would think that you like getting the royal treatment once again." Naruto said jokingly. "Admit it, you miss that life of crazed fangirls and boot-licking lackeys!" Naruto's assumptions were almost true, but not to the extent that he was making them out to be. Sasuke clearly would rather be forced to hop on his bad leg all the way back to the village than be carried around. Naruto played into this also. "You can let go if you like." he smirked. "You'll only fall over backwards and hurt your precious Uchiha body. You may even crack your skull!" Naruto was having way too much fun with this.

"What would Tsunade-sama think if she saw us carry Sasuke in like this?" Chouji asked.

Naruto thought for a minute. She'd be walking in with her low cut shirt--her very, very, VERY low cut shirt—take one look at princess Sasuke and his two self-appointed flunkies and find the whole thing hysterical. "She'd probably laugh until her teeth fell out. That would make it, what, the second time this month?"

"You know she's going to surprise you one day and get back at you for these age jokes." Chouji cautioned. "Are you forgetting the suppository insistent? What did she say they'd do to you anyway?"

"You don't want to know." Naruto said, trying to fight off the horrible flashbacks of Tsunade's threatening revenge in the form of hot pepper suppositories. Thank goodness she hasn't done it yet. "I don't have anything to worry about. Granny Tsunade and I have a very special understanding. Don't you agree, picky-picky?"

Sasuke sighed in frustration. He'd go nuts if he tried to understand the childish antics of Uzumaki Naruto. With any luck, if he just pretended not to listen, all of the foolishness would disappear. Sasuke soon came to realize that was too much to hope for. Who knew foolishness was contagious?

"Picky-picky, tricky-tricky!" The genin began to shout. " I can say it faster than all of you!" They all joined in a contest of who can say picky-picky, quickie-quickie, sticky…(BLEH) the fastest. They even garbled out of few made up words that could only be pronounced by the ever-flexible prepubescent tongue.

Naruto's mission was accomplished. Spirits were lifted and the shinobi were smiling. Naruto eyed the fruits of his labor. "_A job well done...almost."_ Sasuke was still being Sasuke. Oh well. Bitchy-bitchy crabby-crabby was just going to have to suffer for a little while. He turned to Kakashi to see if his silliness had any effect on him. It was hard to tell because of the mask that covered three fourths of his face. He decided to just ask.

"Hey, itchy-itchy Kakashi sensei! How are you feeling now?"

"Damn, I could go for some sake-sake." Kakashi said under his breath.

"That's the spirit!" Naruto raised his fist in triumph.

"I'm in no way, shape, or form following you up. I'm just going to need twice as much sake than usual to forget what just happened."

"Make them STOP!" Sasuke shouted. He couldn't stand the aggravating sounds of the genin reciting heinously infuriating rhymes that echoed throughout the woods. The adults just laughed. Naruto did it again. He found a way to annoy Sasuke to no end for the thousandth time. But this time Sasuke didn't have that urge to kill him--hurt him a little, but not kill him. Sasuke gave in and put his mind at ease for the time being… that was the effect that Naruto's good-hearted nature had on him. Now if only the genin would just SHUT UP! His sanity was spiraling out of control and falling to pieces again. Sasuke gritted his teeth. For the rest of the trip, he was constantly tormented with the seemingly endless tongue twisters of his fellow shinobi.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**A/N**: _I'm kind of happy- happy with this chappy- chappy. Okay I'm going to stop now. Yeah, I know. It sounds kind of like something Dr. Seuss would write (if he were both strung out on crack and drunk out of his mind) But I really got inspired by FLCL. The next chap will get back on track, I PROMISE. If for some odd reason you like this chap and would like for me to do others like it, I'd be glad to. If not, well, I guess I won't. Until the next chap!_

-Dawn E. "KayT" Sky-

**Itachi enters the room.**

**Itachi**: I'm here to kill the author.

**Donny**: OMG it's Itachi! He's so hot! I'm going to faint! (Passes out)

**SkyKat**: ...She's the author.

**Itachi**: She's on the floor. I guess I'll have to kill you instead.

**SkyKat**: Gulp (runs)


	5. Eavesdroppers 'R' us

**Dear Cherry Blossom** a.k.a **Sweet Serenity**

**Summary:** See chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4.

**Recap: **More information is learned about this "mysterious ninja", Sasuke got his ear licked and rear end touched by two males, Naruto's got a warped sense of humor, and I know for a fact that I got a least SOME people to talk crazy for a day.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. But I, Dawn Equinoccio Sky, have a chocolate chip cookie problem.

**All**: Hi Dawn!

**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE: Eavesdroppers 'r' us**

A gentle breeze swirled around a few flower petals in the vicinity of where Sakura was walking. It was an unusually hot morning, but the beauty of the area and the relative calmness made everything bearable. It was very quiet; more than likely because it was still morning and everyone hadn't gotten up to start their daily routines yet. The pink haired kunoichi slowed down and savored the serenity that surrounded her. Sakura would have loved more than anything to just aimlessly walk around for the next few hours, but instead she broke out of her stroll and started to walk faster.

"Okay. I don't have much time," Sakura chanted. "I have to hurry if I'm going to help my best friend. She should be up and ready by now."

Sakura was still in high spirits when she reached Ino's house. It was exactly the same as she remembered it, although the few weeks she spent away really shouldn't have brought too many changes. Nevertheless, she hadn't been there in a while and it felt kind of strange. This was the house that the man she loved and his wife were living in. It had been weeks since she had actually spoken to him. He was out on the "Special Mission", so he wouldn't be home. Just as well. Seeing him would only remind her that had no choice but to desire him from afar. But she _wanted_ to see him. If only she could speak to him again: hear his voice…what _would_ she do? Probably completely cave in on herself as is her skeleton had suddenly disintegrated. There was only one way to find out. If only she could get him alone…

Sakura went up to the front door and pressed her finger against the doorbell. She waited for a few seconds but got no answer. She was positive Ino hadn't left yet so she rang it again. Ino, curled up in the comfortable blankets covering her nude body, was asleep on the couch when Sakura first rang the doorbell and didn't even react to the new sound that was trying to break her out of her heavy sleep. She heard the second ringing but in her drowsy state, she could barely make out what the noise was. She just moaned, rolled over, and covered her head with her blanket. Sakura gave the doorbell a few more rings, causing Ino to sit up and move her tousled hair out of her eyes. When Ino realized that someone was at her door she quickly jumped off the couch, threw on her bathrobe, and ran to answer it. She opened the door to see Sakura standing with a wide grin on her face. Ino was also happy to see her best friend in front of her.

"Good morning, Ino- pig." Sakura said with absolutely no evidence of her past misery.

"Good morning, Cherry Blossom." Ino answered back, stretching her arms high above her head with a yawn.

"You're looking rough." Sakura grabbed a lock of Ino's hair and twisted it in between her fingers. "I thought you had an important meeting today. Don't tell me you forgot." Sakura let Ino's hair go and stepped into the house.

"Oh no, I overslept!" Ino gasped. She snapped out of her sleepiness and frantically ran around the house trying to get herself ready. "I can't go out with my hair like this! I need a shower! I can't find my hairbrush! Damn it, Sasuke!"

"What happened between you two this time?" Sakura asked in a _here we go again_ tone.

"I gave into that jerk, that's what!" Ino stopped running and began shaking her hands in frustration. "I have to eat something. But I can't eat or I'll get sick. That's what will happen; I'll eat something, get sick, and throw up all over him. OOOHHH why am I thinking like this!"

"Calm down. Serenity remember?" Sakura held onto Ino's hands in an effort to stop them from shaking. "You're going to be just fine. You get ready, and I'll make you something that you can eat quickly. And don't worry, you won't get sick."

"Serenity…right. I'm okay." Ino said as she rushed up the stairs. "I'm taking a shower. I won't be long."

Sakura went into the kitchen and searched through the refrigerator. There wasn't much of a selection save for the many different varieties of rice balls. As one of Sasuke's favorite foods, they were almost analogous with Naruto and his ramen. She reached in and grabbed one. "Ino probably made them." The growling in Sakura's stomach made her remember that she didn't eat anything that morning, so she took a bite of it. "Hmph…not bad. But I've had better."

She searched around the kitchen some more until she found some instant ramen. Usually when it came to making something fast and easy, ramen was miracle food that only took three minutes to make… truly a gift from the gods. But there came a time when just the mere sight of it could ruin one's entire day. All it took was one thought of Naruto and his addiction to make her remember that she'd probably be seeing him before the day was over. (So much for her happy mood.) Too bad it had someone like Naruto to give it a bad name. She put those negative thoughts aside and got the electric teapot ready to heat up the water.

"Where are you, Sakura?" In a record breaking twenty minutes Ino was able to take a shower and get dressed. She ran back down the stairs raking a brush through her hair in a futile attempt to tame the unruly mass.

"In here." Sakura called from the kitchen. "Your ramen's ready." When she saw Ino come into the kitchen, still struggling with her hair, she grabbed the brush out of her hand. "Let me take care of that. You need to eat something." Ino sat down to eat and Sakura gently used the brush to smooth out her hair. "This brings back memories doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Ino responded. "Only this time the tables are turned." Ino ate a little then halted briefly. "It's strange how you picked ramen. Great minds think alike, huh Mrs. Uzumaki…OW!" (Sakura gave Ino's hair a hard yank.)

"Sorry." Sakura said disdainfully. "It was a huge tangle." Aside from Ino giggling between each bite of her ramen, the next few minutes were spent in silence.

When Sakura was done, Ino stood up in front of her and smoothed a wrinkle in the front of her shirt flat against her stomach. "How to I look?" she asked spinning around a few times.

"Fat."

Ino's eyes shifted to glare at her smart alec friend- soon to be rival. "Please don't joke with me, Forehead. This guy's real selective with his clients. He says only beautiful people can grow beautiful flowers."

"Okay then, you look nice." Sakura scanned Ino up and down. "But you're still fat."

"This is just perfect." Ino sighed going back into the living room and falling backward onto the couch. "This endorsement will put the flower shop on the map. My family's counting on me, but I'll never be able to convince this guy."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Sakura grabbed onto Ino's hand and helped her back off the couch. "You're a beautiful person inside and out. But you're also-- you know…fat."

Ino was about to reply to Sakura's derogatory comment but was cut off by her telephone ringing. The two females looked at each other, then towards the ringing sound in the next room. It was unusual for someone to be calling this time of the morning. Sakura released Ino's hand and Ino quickly walked into the next room to answer it. The next thing Sakura heard Ino say was a loud "What!" and then an "I'll be right there" before she ran back to where Sakura was sitting. "Sasuke's been injured during the mission and now he's in the hospital! I have to get there right now!"

Sakura's eyes widened with the same amount of surprise that Ino's had. "You're going to the hospital? But what about your client?"

"Screw him. I have to make sure Sasuke's alright." Ino said and headed for the door.

This was the chance Sakura had been hoping for. Fate was on her side…HELL YEAH! Sakura grasped Ino by the arm to stop her from leaving the house. "You can't afford to lose this client. I'll take care of Sasuke."

Ino briefly gave Sakura a dissatisfied look and prepared to counter argue but then she calmed herself down. "Tell him I'll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

Ino hated the uncomfortable position she was in. She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision. Her husband needed her, but her family was counting on her. It was like he was being forced to tear herself in two. These kinds of decisions were the worst kind. Either way, someone was going to be very unhappy. She could only hope Sasuke would be understanding. 

On the bright side, Sakura said she'd take care of him. It would definitely be a little more comforting to have his former teammate and friend by his side for a little while. She was grateful to have such a good friend, but for some reason, she was feeling a little edgy. Why DID Sakura tell her to choose her client over her husband? Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke that could not just be turned off like a light by flipping a switch. Ino knew this. But the feelings couldn't be anywhere as strong as they use to be…could they?

"Why am I stressing?" Ino clasped her hand around the opposite wrist and squeezed it hard. "Sakura's my friend and she would never betray me. If she did I'd kill her. Damn it! I can't believe I just said that! I'm so sorry, Sakura." It must be this whole thing with her client. It's driving her crazy.

Something else bothered her on the way to the flower shop. It struck her as odd that Sasuke would end up badly injured and in the hospital, especially after participating in a special mission that was meant for the genin on his training squad. Sasuke really shouldn't have gotten involved at all. But somehow he did, somehow he ended up in the hospital, and somehow she's going to have to end her business meeting early so that she could get to him.

Ino was so focused on getting to the shop on time that she didn't notice a girl standing in her path and almost ran into her. "Good morning, Ino -sensei" The girl greeted Ino as she came closer. "Are you in a hurry?" She was the only female member of Ino's squad and one of the oldest genin in the village.

"I can't talk now." Ino left the girl without another word.

The girl evilly narrowed her eyelids. "I wonder what's with the big rush. Isn't she headed in the wrong direction? I'm sure Ino- sensei wouldn't mind if I tagged along…as long as she doesn't see me." Once Ino was out of sight, she followed far behind Ino until she arrived at the shop. She then went around to the back and kept herself well hidden.

According to her watch, Ino was only two minutes late when she arrived. She noticed her father standing next to a dignified looking man outside. That's the guy: the super selective tycoon who takes all or nothing. And if he couldn't have it all, then no one else can have anything either. Ino took a deep breath and approached the two men.

"Ah here she is." Inoichi extended his arm and put his hand on Ino's shoulder and brought her closer to him. "This is my beautiful daughter Ino. She'll be showing you all of her ideas for your daughter's wedding."

"Nice to meet you." Ino extended her hand to the man. He lightly took her fingers in the same manner someone would a child with her hand covered in a sticky substance that he did not want to touch.

"You're late." The man said staring harshly at Ino. "I hope you don't exhibit such unsatisfactory service with all of your customers. My name is Iwao Hiro. Call me Iwao."

"She's one of the best flower arrangers in the village." Inoichi informed. "She'll-"

"I'll be the judge of that." The man rudely interrupted. "Only beautiful people can grow beautiful flowers." The man raised Ino's arm around her head and forced her to turn around so that he could inspect her. Inoichi didn't approve of this and rapidly intervened by grabbing the man's wrist. No matter what the outcome of this meeting would be, Inoichi would not tolerate anyone handling his daughter in that manner. "I guess you're good enough. Let's get this over with, Yamanaka. I don't have time to waste." He called her by her father's name. Did he not know she was married?

"It's Uchiha actually." Inoichi corrected.

"But you may call me Ino." Ino said when she saw the disgruntled expression on the man's face.

The man gave his coat a hitch against his mistake. "The wife of that well known member of the Uchiha clan" he grunted. "I guess he's a better match than the worthless bastard my daughter's throwing her life away for."

Ino was experiencing a combination of feelings that threatened to turn her into a ticking time bomb. This guy was a wealthy snob and only some fatherly advice would keep her from igniting. "I would like to have a word with my father. You may go in and look around. I'll be right there in a few minutes."

"You have _one_ minute" the man said holding up his index finger and pretentiously walking into the flower shop.

"Please don't make me go in there alone. I might end up hurting him." Ino pleaded to her father. Before he could say anything, Ino spoke up again. "There's something else I need to tell you. It's about Sasuke."

"Yamanka!" The man called from the inside.

"Tell me about Sasuke later. I promised to here wait for his daughter, so just go in and try to relax. You'll do just fine." Inoichi advised.

The man was prodding through some of the flowers and grumbling something negative about each one he saw. He picked up some of the pots and uncaringly dropped them back down when he found a flaw. Ino followed closely behind, impatiently twisting the lock of hair that hung freely on the side of her head. She desperately wanted to be with Sasuke but this man was taking his sweet time inspecting every leaf and petal on the flowers.

She kept thinking of ways to hurry up and get rid of this man so that she could get to the hospital. Apparently, she was too busy daydreaming to hear the man talking to her because she was suddenly pulled out of her trance by the man gently shaking her shoulder.

"Yamanaka! Are you listening to me? I said I want this in blue!" The man shoved a pot in front of Ino's face.

"I'm sorry. Those are daffodils and don't grow in blue. I'll show you what I think will be fine for the wedding." Ino lead his to the front of the shop and pulled out a book from behind the counter. "I gathered this together a few days ago. Just look and see if you like anything in here."

"I said I want those in blue! This service is terrible…" The man began to ramble on. Ino found his words slowly becoming incoherent as she drifted back off into daydreaming. "Wake up girl! Did you hear a word I said?"

Ino snapped out of her trance for a second time. "I'm sorry. I can't really concentrate because my husband-"

"I don't care about your smut life! Such a tragedy to be beautiful with no brains and no eye for business!" The man shouted some more complaints. Ino tapped the fingers on one hand against the counter and twirled her hair with the fingers on the other. She wasn't use to many people not instantly falling into a hypnotic spell from her beauty and treating her this way. On top of that she couldn't get Sasuke out of her mind. It was only in a matter seconds before she was going to pick up the book and bring it down hard onto the man's head. Lucky for him, she was distracted by the sound of a woman talking to Ino's father as they walked in.

"Your daughter's here." Inoichi gestured and led the woman inside.

"Thank goodness. Now maybe I can get some decisions made around here." They went through the pages of the book with Inoichi pointing at some of the pictures and explaining some things with him. Seeing how upset Ino was, the woman pulled Ino away from the two men.

"I hope my father didn't give you a terribly hard time. I can tell that you were almost ready to kill him." She turned to the direction of her father and looked at him unapologetically. "The only reason he got so successful is because people threw money at him just to shut him up and keep him away." Ino continued to twist her hair and stare at the floor. "Is something else is bothering you?"

"_Anymore complaints from your father and he's fertilizer,_" Ino thought while trying to avoid eye contact with the woman. "I can't stay. My husband's in the hospital."

"Then what are you doing _here_? I'm surprised you came in the first place. Go be with him and don't worry about my father." It sure was a good thing this woman came in when she did… smut life? Ino ran back to the front with her father.

Ino's genin was still hiding in the back and heard everything that was going on. _"Score! This is gold!" _She cheered inwardly. She continued to listen in on everyone's conversation.

"Sasuke's in the hospital and I'm going to check on him." Ino explained to her father. "Do you think you can pick up were I left off?"

"What she means is can we begin?" The man said smugly. "I'm surprised you let this girl handle your business. So the wife of the great Uchiha heir has to visit her husband in the hospital. I guess the famous Uchihas aren't all that they say they are."

"I'll take it from here." He assured her. Ino left, but not before "accidentally" knocking a watering can onto the man's pants. He uttered a few not so appropriate words as Inoichi tried to find something for the man to dry himself off with. _"My daughter was about to hurt this guy."_ Inoichi thought rolling up his sleeves. _"I'll pick up were she left off all right."_

Since Ino's genin was well hidden, Ino didn't notice when she ran passed her. The genin smiled deviously. "The 'Great Uchiha Heir' really _was_ badly injured and had to go to the medic's. I think a certain someone would like to know about this." The girl got up to leave. "This ought to get me some extra brownie points."

* * *

Sakura's feet had wings that carried her faster than the speed of light to the hospital. Upon her arrival, she found out all of the details about what happened to everyone involved in the mission and where Sasuke was staying. Her heart pounded the whole length of her trip until she found his room. When she entered and got her first glimpse of her former teammate in a long time, all of her past feelings for him raced through her head. He was sitting up in his bed and staring out the window, apparently too upset about something to detect her walking in. 

He didn't have his shirt on and Sakura took the time to admire his chiseled body as the light from the window reflected against his skin in all the right angles. Even the sun knew that Sasuke was an exceptionally beautiful creature and he had to be presented in a certain way at all times. It was the body that she always imagined putting her hands on, the body that she desperately wanted to be pushed up against hers, the body that she would give her right arm to stare at for as little as five minutes a day. It would have been flawless if it weren't for the bruises and the thick strips of fabric wrapped around his shoulder. There also appeared to be minor burn scars that covered his skin. She observed a little more and zeroed in on his bandaged foot. It soon dawned on her why he was so upset:_ The Great Uchiha heir _had lost a battle.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" She managed to say, but with a feeling of stupidity for saying his first and last name as if she had never met him before.

Sasuke turned his head sharply. "Sakura." They stared at each other for a few seconds, but to Sakura it seemed like hours. She stood there, trembling and almost choking on her own breath until Sasuke spoke. "How is the boy?"

"Matsushita Michio?" Sakura said, nervously fingering through the papers on the clipboard she carried with her. "He put up quite a fight before he was stabbed in the stomach. They're checking him now."

"Stabbed in the front…that means he didn't run away. He's without a doubt a true shinobi."Sasuke glanced at his injured foot. "Where's Ino? I know she's heard what happened."

"She went to see her client. She said she'd be here as soon as she could." Sakura's heart was now viciously drumming inside of her, banging hard and trying to burst right through the confines of her chest.

"I'm injured in a hospital bed and she's more worried about a client?" Sasuke drew his eyebrows together and his face burned with anger. "I shouldn't even be here!" With one violent swipe of his hand, a tray containing a pitcher of water that was resting on a stand next to the bed went flying through the air.

"She's been looking forward to this meeting for a while and her family is counting on her to not to blow it. You shouldn't get too mad at her." Sakura picked up the pitcher and set it back onto the stand. She could have said that it was _she_ who told Ino to go see her client, but what was the point? Ino could have said "no". Oh wait…she did.

Sasuke exhaled a hard gust of air and turned his head back to the window. "I need to know if he's going recover."

"I'll go check on him for you if you'd like." Sasuke didn't answer her. Knowing that it would be a waste of her breath if she tried to say anything else to him, Sakura left and proceeded to where Michio was getting looked at. She was just a few feet away when she was stopped by Tsunade.

"Sakura, I'm glad I found you." Tsunade motioned for Sakura to follow her. "You're needed on the training grounds. Some of the genin were injured."

"I was on my way to take care of Sasuke."

"We'll check on him later. This is more important." Tsunade had just thrown a wrench in Sakura's plan. She wanted to argue and come up with a quick excuse but she knew better than to show any disrespect to Tsunade by showing her true feelings. Especially since they were based on her own self-interest. Sakura reluctantly agreed and left with Tsunade to the training grounds. On the way, She passed Ino running towards Sasuke's room.

"_Well,"_ she thought. _"I guess I won't be alone with him today... Shit."_

Ino hysterically burst through the door and threw her arms around her husband's neck. "Sasuke, I was so worried about you! I came here as fast as I could!"

"Get off me, Ino. I'm alright." Sasuke flinched in the pain of Ino's body pressing against his bruises.

"No! Never!" Ino said through her tears and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Sasuke put his arm on her back and held her in a one-armed embrace. Her actions made him remember the first time she clung onto him in a panic and refused to let go. It all happened shortly after he was freed from Orochimaru's clutches.

_(A/N: We're gonna flashback a little)_

After Orochimaru was killed by Itachi, Sasuke was left lying on the ground all by himself. He was incredibly weak and pain was shooting throughout entire body. What was he supposed to do now? His trainer was dead, he was considered a villain by his entire village, and his evil older brother was still on the loose. He was seventeen years old with nowhere else to go and he felt that suicide might have been his only option. He didn't know what to do next, let alone what he was going to do for the rest of his life, so what did he have left to live for? The problem with suicide was he didn't want to die until his lifelong mission of killing his brother had been accomplished.

Since Itachi defeated the super powerful Orochimaru, Sasuke knew for a fact that he was not strong enough to take on his brother just yet. He had to finish his training but there was no one that could give him the power that he desired for years. Soon he realized that he had no other alternative but to go back to the village: that quaint village that he had turned his back on all those years ago.

He wasn't very excited about going back, but he started his journey shortly after he recovered. On his way, constant thoughts of how in the world could Itachi have defeated Orochimaru plagued his mind. He also wondered how everyone would react to him once they saw him again since he _did_ recruit to the enemy. HE knew that he would no longer be a threat, but did the village know? Sure they did. He's the Great Uchiha heir. They loved him then. There was no doubt they still loved him now…right? A few days later he was back at the village; only he did not receive the open armed welcome that he was hoping for.

As soon as he was discovered he was attacked and dragged into a secluded area, where he received the worst thrashing of his life and thrown in an isolated chamber. (Wild guess, but it could have had something to do with the fact that he betrayed the village and tried to kill some of them a few years earlier. Who would have thought they'd take it so personally?) From beyond his confinements, he kept hearing the word "traitor". He eventually came to despise that word and dreaded it so much that the words "death penalty" would have been much more pleasant to hear.

Kakashi was one of the few people that were allowed to visit him and he came in once with Naruto and Sakura. They never said a word to him- just stared at him in disbelief. It must have been extremely difficult to see their former teammate--the once greatest genin in the village-- sitting in a shoddy prison-like cell with his wrists and ankles bound in steel shackles. It's not like they would have been able to start hugging reunion style and engage in a casual "long time no see" conversation. They were enemies now. Whether or not that would change, only time would tell.

Ino had actually risked severe punishment to visit him a few days after the word got out that he had returned. He didn't know why he still had a hold on her for so many years. Surely she had moved on from him by now. Even if she did move on, she hadn't moved far enough. Whenever she was able to sneak in, she would come to see him. Regardless, he didn't want to get to close to her and would never speak to her no matter how hard she tried to speak with him. That was until she uttered the words that to this day echo through his mind…

"Sasuke, I don't think you are a traitor."

Little by little he could feel his body weaken because he had completely lost his appetite and refused to eat anything for days. One day, he noticed a small beam of sunlight shine through the tiny window in his cell. He looked into it and spoke."My family, the great members of the Uchiha clan, I am sorry." His vow to kill his brother would be broken. At least he tried. That should be enough to satisfy his family when he joined them on the other side. Sasuke smirked a little. "Heh. So this is how it's going to end. I'm going to die at the hands of those I once called my friends in the place I once called my home."

After spending days in solitary confinement, a group of Jounin came into his cell and unlocked his shackles. He didn't have the strength to fight back because he had become so thin and frail with his chakra almost completely depleted. He was dragged out by the arms like a rag doll and tied to a tree. He was left there for hours with a strict order for no one to go near him until his fate was decided. Sasuke never forgot a detail of what happened later that day when Ino ran up to him with tears in her eyes. She didn't tell him why she was crying but he figured it out. That was the night it was decided that he should be executed for treason.

"Get away from me." he said calmly. Those were the first words he ever spoke to her since he returned. He knew that they would be coming for him soon and he didn't want the sight of his execution to traumatize her for life. Her response shocked the hell out of him.

"Never!" She shouted as she threw her arms around him. "I'll never let you go! Never!" Seconds later, they heard voices coming closer and saw a small group of ninja marching towards them.

_(End Flashback)_

"Will you stop getting so dramatic?" Sasuke said, gently pushing Ino's body off of him. "I'm fine. Let me prove it." Ino gazed into Sasuke's eyes. "Right here, right now."

Ino gave Sasuke a stunned look. "Right here? In a hospital bed?"

"Right now." Sasuke said with his usual lack of expression in his voice.

"I'll be right back." Ino hurriedly left the room.

Sasuke reached under his sheets and started to rub the head of his member in order to prepare himself for Ino's return. He didn't know where she was going, but she sure as hell had better get back quickly. A few minutes later she came back with a small square shaped object in her hand. "It's strange how easy it is to find one of these things in a hospital." She pressed it into his hand. "You know the deal."

"Damn it! Not this again! I hate these things." He unenthusiastically did as he was told. "Now lock the door and move the chair in front of it. And for goodness sakes hurry up, woman!"

"Just wait a minute." Ino pushed a chair in front of the door and jumped into the bed next to Sasuke. He hastily pulled up her shirt grabbed one of her breast.

Sakura took a break from her patients and went back to where Sasuke's room was, although she wasn't as eager about getting there. She knew that Ino was in there and she wouldn't have her chance be alone with him that day. She slowly walked up to the room and tried to open his door but there was something in the way keeping it from budging. Channeling some chakra into her ear, she pressed it against the cold metal and listened. Ino's voice could almost be heard clearly.

"Come on! Why do you always have to be on top first?"

Sasuke's voice wasn't as loud, but Sakura could just make out what he was saying. "I shouldn't have to remind you. Now stop trying to resist, you're bending it!"

Sakura wanted to get away from the door, but for some reason she couldn't pull her ear off of it. It was like some kind of glue sticking her ear to the surface. (A/N: Nosey Glue I would call it! Mass produced by every human body! Especially the bodies of snooty teenagers with camera phones and elderly women with binoculars. Um...yeah.)

"Why are you doing that?" Ino shouted. "I can't get my leg up that high!"

"Will you stop complaining!"

The last thing Sakura heard was "How many times do I have to tell you that you need to use both hands?" though she wasn't quite sure who said this.

"It's definitely broken leg." Tsunade said while walking up to Sakura. "With any luck we'll be able to help the injuries on his shoulder and his bruises, but we'll have work on his leg over the next few days. Hopefully we'll be able to fit him with a walking cast soon. Naruto got banged up pretty badly, so after you finish with the Genin, you can come help me with him. I'm going to see him in a few minutes." When she saw that Sakura had her ear up against the door, Tsunade did the same. (It's strange how something like that can make a man forget about his pain.)

"Why are you going so slow?" They heard Ino ask.

"Do you want it fast or do you want it good?" Sasuke answered back.

Tsunade gave Sakura an expression that told her that she was aware of what was going on and smiled. "May just speed up his recovery."

Sakura grimaced. "I think I'm going to hurl."

* * *

Neji didn't have any injuries worth getting examined, but he went with the others to the medic's anyway to make sure Tenten was doing okay. He hoped that her injures weren't too serious after arriving in such bad shape. He was worried to the point of near madness over her and he vowed that no matter how long it took for the team of medic-nin to work on her, he'd stay there until she came out. He waited outside next to a bench and paced in circles around the area until he found a copy of the _Konoha Nin News_ lying on the ground. He grabbed the paper, too anxious to sit down and stay in one place; he kept walking in circles as he searched through for the Cherry Blossom articles. He found the section and read one of the articles to himself: 

_Dear Cherry Blossom,_

_Should I consider myself opposition or an ally? I've done bad things, but I've done good things too. People tend to be confused because I've acted as a spy and as an informant for both sides. I could go back to being a shifty bastard, but I don't think there would be any point. But then again, I want to be bad...REALLY bad. I could be bad and make it look good...but then that would be stupid, right? I'm exceptionally confused now because the one that I used to serve is now dead… _(A/N: 5 bucks goes to anyone who can figure out who wrote this letter …heehee just kidding!)

Neji didn't bother to finish the letter. "And I thought I had problems. These people are getting more and more deplorable each day." He would have stood there lost in the article for the next number of minutes if it weren't for a white orb flying around the corner and hovering over his head. "Oh no" He said under his breath, gritting his teeth. The last thing he needed was a surprise visit from Mr. "I can do freaky things with my eyeballs."

"Hello." A dark voice spoke up from the other side of him. The short redheaded male that greeted Neji almost caught him by surprise. "I hope you've fared well today." Gaara approached Neji with a slightly wilted flower in his hand and an obviously forced smile.

"We just got back from a grueling mission. None of us had fared well." Neji said refusing to look at Gaara straight on. He made no attempt at disguising his rudeness, though he knew that he should have. "You here to see Tenten?"

"I came as soon as I heard what happened." Gaara stepped a little closer to Neji. "What would it look like if I didn't make sure the woman I am to marry was alright?"

"She hasn't come out yet." Neji stepped back to the original distance between them and looked at Gaara sternly. Did he always have to carry that gourd on his back? He needs to just crawl into a hole and bury himself with its contents. Just then, Tenten was cleared to leave.

"Everything's alright, Neji! And I have very important to tell you!" She said happily to Neji before noticing the Kazekage. "Gaara…" She timidly pulled her just below the shoulder length hair behind her ear. It had to be taken down from its usual odango style so that the medics could better see the degree of her injury. "You---You didn't have to come."

"Of course I did." Gaara handed her the flower. "This is for you." Her nervous fingers trembled as she accepted her unexpected gift. The little flower drooped in her hand as if to be relieved that it was finally free to die after the initial torture of being picked and handled by the likes of the Sand nin. "Come with me." Gaara said, putting his hand on the small of Tenten's back and leading her away. "We're needed back at my village."

Neji watched as Tenten looked back at him while she walked down the road with Gaara. "She's way taller than he is. They look so odd together." Neji threw his head to the side. "Naruto was right. What he lacks in eyebrows he cannot make up for in height." He was about to leave, but stayed put when he saw Hinata approaching from the opposite end of the area.

"Neji?" her soft voice reached his ears. "Were you and Tenten hurt badly?"

"She already left with Gaara." He said pointing to the two figures shrinking in the distance. "You just missed them both."

"That's too bad." Hinata shyly dropped her head to hide the fact that she was blushing. Neji ran his fingers through her back length hair.

"Your hair's getting too long. You have to cut it." he informed, absently twirling it around his finger.

"I don't want to go through this again." Hinata pulled her hair out of his fingers.

"Are you still mad at me?" Neji asked, putting his fingertips under her chin and lifting her head up.

"How long until we can finally--" Hinata couldn't finish her sentence because Neji put is fingers up to her lips. She moved his hand away from her mouth. "Come on," she said pulling on Neji's arm. "Let's go home."

Naruto was in a nearby room impatiently waiting for Tsunade to come check on him. Kakashi was sitting in the chair next to him, trying- unsuccessfully- to explain what had just happened in a way that Naruto could understand. Kakashi's explanations where reasonable, but they did not set to well with Naruto. Naruto couldn't believe the ghastly details describing the true purpose of the "Special Mission".

"What your trying to tell me is that you've been using the Genin as bait!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Listen." Kakashi answered. "The whole thing was set up as a ploy to lure the enemy into a trap disguised as a pre-Chuunin exam. Recently we've been hearing about some Akatsuki members trying to invade the village, although we're not quite sure why. We think it may be somehow linked to Sasuke's brother Itachi."

"Ah yeah, the invalid." Naruto scratched his head, slowly but surely taking in and processing the information.

"We couldn't tell of you right away because there may have been a spy close to where we were sitting." Kakashi watched the slight changes in Naruto's facial expression and body language. Naruto wasn't liking what he was hearing, but Kakashi kept going with his explanations. "We managed to make this 'mysterious person' think that he was able to trick us by disguising himself as a jutsu created ninja. He then unknowingly became almost like an ally and helped us to formulate another plan to use against himself and the others by leading us to where they were staging their ambush. He also unknowingly led us right to where they had established a temporary hideout. Unfortunately, he got away."

"You endangered the lives of the Genin." Naruto reminded with a hostile look on his face.

Kakashi tried to sugar coat his next explanation as much as possible. "They're the top of the class and were able to handle it. After they got out of the building and other Jounin had arrived they all fought well side by side. What happened to Michio was a misfortune."

"You weren't counting on the Genin to run away were you? The whole plan was dumb." Naruto gripped the sheets on his bed and angrily twisted the section of cloth in his fists. There was no right way to tell him about the real intentions of the mission because he flat out disagreed with it. "I have a better way to handle the situation."

The sound of a familiar man's voice caught Kakashi's attention. He stuck his head into the hallway noticed Gai flirting with a nurse a few feet away. "Excuse me for a second, Naruto. I've got something I need to take care of." Kakashi unknowingly left his book behind and Naruto picked it up and skimmed through it before slamming it shut.

"This is sick! The two lovers in this book are cousins!" Naruto rapidly shook his head, trying to keep the images from implanting in his brain. "I can only imagine where the old pervert got _that_ idea." Naruto dropped the book and rested his head back against his pillow, listening to the happenings going on a few feet away from his room.

"Hey there." Gai said lustfully. "I was here checking on some former students, but I couldn't help but notice you admiring my manly features." Gai leaned his forearm against the wall above the blushing nurse.

Kakashi chuckled lightly at his own mischievous idea and leisurely snuck up closer to him. "Hey, Gai!" Kakashi said in the most feminine he could make, glomping Gai from behind. "Why haven't you returned my calls?"

Gai's muscles tightened and a large bead of sweat ran down the side of Gai's head. "Don't do this, Kakashi!" He implored embarrassingly. Gai fidgeted a little, but Kakashi was either not taking the hint or he was simply ignoring it.

"Uh, I have to go now." The nurse slid from underneath Gai's arm and walked away from the two men. When she looked back and saw the copy ninja clinging onto Gai's shoulders, she broke into a run.

"A little payback for the itching powder in the mask trick." Kakashi said triumphantly.

"I would be mad…" Gai said putting his fingers up to his chin, "if Iruka wasn't over there watching the whole thing." Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see Iruka grinning and seductively waving his fingers at him.

"Ah damn it!" Kakashi darted in the opposite direction with Iruka following closely behind.

The two ninja ran past Naruto's room, ending his entertainment for the moment. He was beginning to get bored with waiting for Tsunade, so he decided to kill some time by sneaking out of his room and wandering the halls. He struggled to make sense of what he had been told, but the more he thought about it, the more he hated the fact that he was a part of it.

The events that happened that morning were discouraging. It all took him back to the terrible lessons that he had learned growing up. The life of a ninja by far was not easy. What's worse, it's not even guaranteed. One day, you're spending time with friends and joking happily because you don't have a care in the world. The next day, you're dead. It wasn't exactly an unwritten rule, but it wasn't exactly written in bold type on the "Ninja's guide to Life" manual either. Something still did not seem right. Why _did_ the Genin run away? That wasn't exactly top of the class behavior. That was something Naruto would have to ponder a little later.

The only thing interesting about hospitals were the patients. There would be no need for anyone to read through all of the files in the records room because anyone was able to gather the same amount of information just by walking past a few medic-nins interacting with their patients. He walked up to one room just in time to see his former teammate Sai leaving with a doctor.

"I'm optimistic that medicine I prescribed will take care of that vomiting problem." Naruto heard the medic-nin tell him.

"But what about my other problem?" Sai asked the medic-nin.

Brief pause. "Let's talk for a few minutes." The medic-nin said, leading Sai down the hall.

"_I wonder what that was all about_." Naruto contemplated to himself. "Sasuke's room is over here. I should go see how he's doing." Naruto knocked on Sasuke's door but got no answer. The handle was locked and Naruto couldn't get the door open, but his highly developed sense of hearing allowed him to listen to everything that was going on:

"Don't put that in there!" (_A/N: _Gama Su! _Heehee!_)

"Where else am I going to put it?"

"It goes here."

"Don't pull so hard, I can fix it myself!"

"I guess he's doing better." Naruto concluded. He snooped past a few more rooms and heard a few more interesting medic/patient conversations until he saw Tsunade walking down the hall. He speedily ran back into his room before she could catch him wandering about. He jumped on the lumpy spring mattress in time to hear the footsteps getting louder.

"One thousand eight hundred and fifty." Tsunade said after she entered Naruto's room a few seconds later with a chart in her hands.

"What? The amount you lost gambling last night or are you finally admitting your real age?" Naruto said jokingly.

"It's the number of times you've visited me since we first met…though not always for medical reasons." Before Tsunade could close the door Kakashi was spotted running past them. He was moving pretty fast despite the fact that Iruka had a death grip on Kakashi's arms and legs.

"Wow, I didn't know anyone could run like that!" Naruto said as Tsunade freed the handle an allowed the door to swing shut.

"What were you doing out there anyway?" Tsunade asked. "The 'Special Mission' was for the Jounin and their Genin."

"Did you forget that I AM I Jounin now?" Here it comes…

Tsunade smirked. "I know, but weren't you placed the in suicide squad, or as we call it 'the squad that we can't find any other use for?'"

"Gah! Much like you, Tsunade-baa-chan, that joke's really getting old." There was a pause as Tsunade rummaged through some things in a cupboard over the sink. "How could you let the Genin be used as bait?" Naruto finally asked.

"The enemy wouldn't have attacked if they knew we had a squad of Jounin waiting for them." She muttered, almost to her medical instruments. "We had to disguise our counter attack as a 'Special Mission'. That's one reason why the top Genin were chosen."

Naruto was flabbergasted. Tsunade was in on it too. He frowned went back to twisting the sheets. There was something else he had to find out. "What about this mysterious person?"

"We don't know yet." The way Tsunade answered made Naruto believe that she was upset because she could not provide any more answers for him.

"I think I have an idea." Naruto said assertively. This time, Naruto was going to make sure that his idea was heard.

"You can explain your idea while I take your temperature." Tsunade said, pulling out a rather oddly shaped thermometer attached to a thick mechanism by a spiraling cord.

"How can I talk while you're taking my temperature?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I assure you… you'll be able to talk just fine." Tsunade answered over the beeping noise that came from her pressing a button on the thick end of the puzzling device.

He drew his eyebrows together and tried to decipher how the thermometer could possibly be able to allow him to talk. Then he shrugged. "If you say so." Naruto opened his mouth and lifted his tongue.

"Guess again." Tsunade said while tapping the thermometer against the palm of her gloved hand. "I think I should do another type of examination while I'm at it." Naruto could feel his stomach churning. His jaw hit the ground and his eyes widened when he saw Tsunade coming closer to him with a devious grin on her face.

Sakura slowly made her rounds while trying to forget why she was extremely upset. She tried to accept that she would not be able to spend some time alone with Sasuke that day and erase the memories of listening to him get pleasured by another woman, but it would not leave her mind. Her concentration was interrupted when she felt the vibrations of heavy footsteps caused by Kakashi getting chased down the hall by Iruka.

"Get away from me, Iruka!" Kakashi shouted trying to push Iruka off of him.

"I just need to ask you something!" Iruka tightened his grip.

Kakashi managed to push Iruka away and turned to face him. "Spying mission in the Land of Water?"

"There was land, there was water, and there was spying. Hey, where are you going?" he asked when Kakashi started walked towards the end of the hall.

"You're an idiot and I'm going to go get on all fours on the ground and try to forget this whole incident by banging my head against a large rock." Kakashi slowly backed away from his amorous opponent.

Iruka grabbed onto Kakachi again. "We can do that too!"

Sakura watched as Kakashi darted off with Iruka still holding onto him. "Wow." She whispered to herself "I didn't know anyone could run like that." After that incident, everything was quiet until…

"AAIIIEE! IT'S COLD! IT'S COLD! IT'S COLD! IT'S COLD!"

Sakura looked toward the direction that screams were coming from. "I wonder if Tsunade-sama actually made good on her threats to stick the thermometer in the freezer. When will Naruto learn not to mess with Godaime?" She walked to Naruto's room and pressed her ear against the door.

"That thing is way too big!" Sakura could hear Naruto sob.

"You can handle it." Tsunade responded. Sakura could tell Tsunade was enjoying her brief moment of revenge against Naruto's constant barrage of age jokes and name-calling.

"Okay, this is how things should be done." Naruto said through clenched teeth. "AAAH! Why'd you have to pull it out so fast?"

"Keep going." Tsunade said. Sakura could ear everything clearly this time and couldn't help but laugh a little at the thought of the strange conclusions she would be jumping to if she had no idea what was going on from the other side of the door.

"We need to focus on Itachi." Naruto continued, pulling his pants back up. "There's no telling what the Akatsuki will do in order to get to him. He needs to be guarded all day, everyday. Since we know where they are based, we should keep it secretly blockaded, mainly to keep them from gathering other members or slowly getting into the village. They shouldn't be able to attack the center of the village were if we put up an effective guard around the edges. I'm sure the ANBU goons can take care of any member that tries to get though."

"Not bad." Tsunade acknowledged. "So what would you do if they did attack from the middle of the village?"

"That would mean they've already got members hidden in the village. I think we should keep an eye on the medic's taking care of Sasuke's brother as well. We'll need another plan in case they actually do have spies in the village."

"I'll leave that up to you." Tsunade said confidently. "According to your files you're overdue for you next injection. I can do that for you today." She picked up a syringe and stuck the needle into the top of a tiny bottle to withdraw some of the fluid.

"Sweet." Naruto said, rolling up his sleeve.

"Guess again." Tsunade held up the needle and squirted some of the fluid out.

BANG! BANG!

Even though Tsunade was lightly plucking the side of the syringe the sound reached Naruto's ears as a series of loud bangs. She grinned and slowly walked towards Naruto, who was sweating from every pore on his head.

"Oh crap…"

For the next few seconds, the halls of the hospital echoed with the painful yelp of the aspiring Hokage getting a needle in the butt.

* * *

Tsunade nearly knocked Sakura over when she opened the door to leave Naruto's room. "You're really making this a habit aren't you?" 

"Uh, how's he doing?" Sakura asked with her skin burning from embarrassment.

"Other than his sore…pride, he's perfectly fine. Although he's upset about the plan concerning the Genin."

"I figured he would be. I'll go talk to him." Sakura smiled sheepishly.

"I think he'd like that." Tsunade walked a few steps then stopped. "Before I forget. I'm going to need you to do a huge favor for me. I'll get back to you about it." Sakura gave a nod and went into Naruto's room.

Naruto was lying belly flat on his bed with his bare bottom exposed because it was still too painful for him to pull his pants up over it. He stared out the window, but other than an occasional insect flying by, there wasn't anything very interesting going on outside. Naruto sighed to himself, "I wish it were dark enough for me to see the moon. It would be kind of nice to see something that could still smile during a time like this."

"It looks like a FULL moon from where I'm standing." Naruto shot his head around to see Sakura standing in front of his closed door. She had entered Naruto's room so quietly that he didn't hear her.

"DAAAHHH! What are you doing here!" Naruto scrambled to get his pants up.

"I see you had fun with Tsuande- sama. I knew the day would come when she'd use her frozen thermometer on you." Sakura helped herself to a good laugh at Naruto's expense. " I just wanted to let you know that you are free to go whenever you want."

"Why would I want to leave when the hospital is a place of total entertainment?"

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, sounding a little confused.

"I just saw Sai. Do you know why he's vomiting so much? I also heard that Shino has to come here often because of his allergic reactions to insect bites. Do you find that ironic?" Naruto gazed at his love interest, hoping that he had used the word "ironic" in the right way.

"Perhaps." Sakura shrugged. "Why were you spying on all the patients? You're worse than the gossip columnists."

"I don't think anything's worse than the gossip columnists." Naruto's faced changed from mortified to serious. He found himself in an awkward situation. Apparently, Sakura knew about the "Special Mission" but didn't object to it. How could she go along with something like that? He had to find out. "Do you agree with the way they handled things? One of the Genin almost got killed."

"But he didn't die. You of all people should know that the life of a ninja involves a lot of hazards and life threatening situations. We all made sure that he's going to make a full recovery within a few days." Sakura sat on the bed next to Naruto. "I heard about what you did. It was so sweet of you to keep everyone in high spirits, although I don't think Sasuke was too fond of being carried all the way here."

Naruto rested his cheek on his balled fist. "We had to do it. He kept trying to walk on that leg."

"True." Sakura agreed. "But did you _really_ have to carry him to the front of the group, start shouting 'all hail princess Sasuke' when you came in, and then demand that everyone kiss is foot?"

"Honest. We had no idea that Iruka- sensei would actually do it." Naruto said defensively and raised his head.

"I've never seen so many people fall out of their wheelchairs and start rolling around the floor with laughter until then. That was kind of funny-funny wasn't it?" Sakura had never forgotten how much of a sweetheart Naruto was when he's not annoying the heck out of everyone. From as far back as she could remember, he was always putting the well-being of others before his own. She wanted to return the favor, but her efforts to joke with Naruto were falling on deaf ears. She looked at her feet, then she looked at Naruto. "Sweet Serenity."

"What?"

"That's what I tell patients who are experiencing an exceptional amount of pain. Picture yourself in a quiet happy place and don't even think about the bad stuff...you seem to have a natural ability to help others find their own Sweet Serenity." This comment didn't make Naruto feel any better, so she gave him some more news in an effort to cheer him up. "I hear you've been put in charge of coming up with a new plan. I have a lot of faith that whatever you come up with will work."

"Really?" Naruto perked up.

"_She's soft again. Now's your chance. Stay calm_" Naruto could almost hear the tiny voice of his conscious in his head tell him. Or was it Kyuubi? _"Did you hear me, brat?"…_it was Kyuubi.

"You know," he spoke up, "if you ever want to get together sometime and help me perfect it…or if you just want to take some time off from your work-" Sakura knew where this was going.

"Thanks, but I don't think so." Sakura said as she got up to leave. "I know you'll be able to come up with a good plan. From what I remember, you always have."

"'Picture yourself in a happy place'That's what she told me." Naruto said to himself after Sakura left. For the past few minutes, he didn't have to picture it. As long as he was with Sakura, any place was a happy place. Naruto grinned and breathed deeply. "I'll come up with a good plan."

* * *

"Don't worry." Ino said quietly as she lay next to Sasuke in the hospital bed. He opened his dark eyes slowly and looked up at the ceiling._ Don't worry_. That's all everyone ever says when bad things happen. He wasn't in the mood to hear that phrase. That's what everyone had been telling him since he left the area where the battle took place. _Don't worry_...he had to worry. At the same time had to feel guilty. His youngest and most powerful student could be on the verge of death and there he was, fooling around just down the hall. He needed to see him. He shifted his hips to the very edge of the bed and made an attempt to get up. His effort was hindered when Ino sat up and pulled him back down. "Stop moving." She commanded. "You need to wait here until they come in and work on you." 

"I can check on Michio and be back before anyone gets here." Sasuke once again tried to get up but Ino got off the bed first and pushed him back down. She must have forgotten about his injures because she was not very gentle when she pushed him.

"I said you're not going anywhere. If you try to move again I'll get Tsunade-sama to strap you to the bed." Ino stood at the front of him with her arms folded. "Why do you insist on trying to walk on that leg? You wouldn't even believe it was broken if it wasn't for the damn x-ray!"

"This isn't about my foot is it?" Sasuke stood up on his good leg and placed his hand on the bed's railing for support. "You've taken so much from me. Can't you a least let me have this?"

"Why the hell are you still holding that against me? I've made up my mind and nothing you say is going to change it." Ino exhaled deeply. "I'll go see what's going on with him and come back in a little while. You better be here when I get back, or else I'll come looking for you." Ino tried to fix herself up to get rid of any evidence of what she had been doing before she left.

Ino walked with her head hanging low because Sasuke tried to bring up that painful subject again. He could really be a jerk sometimes.

"Ino! Over here!" Sakura called out from down the hall, waving her hand to get Ino's attention. She was on her way out for a lunch break and made a last minute decision to see if Shizune would to join her. When she saw Ino, Sakura opted to ask her instead.

Ino whipped her head around, long ponytail smacking the other side of her face as a result. "Sakura. Thank goodness."

"Did you know that almost all of your buttons are in the wrong holes?" Since Sakura was well aware of what happened in Sasuke's room a few minutes ago, it wasn't much of a surprise to see Ino looking like she had slept in a closet. But she pretended to look surprised.

"Oops. I really don't have an explanation for this. Now I have to go find a mirror. " Ino sighed with her face flushed and her arms crossed in front of her chest in an effort to cover up her buttons. "I need to ask you something. Is there any way that Sasuke's Genin will make a full recovery? Sasuke's worried sick and has been trying to sneak out so that he could see him."

Sakura smiled warmly. "Everyone's positive that he's going to recover."

"Please promise me that you'll make sure he recovers" Ino pleaded. "I'd feel better if you were the one taking care of him."

"Alright. I promise." Deep down Sakura knew that her promise was more for winning favor with Sasuke than appealing to her best friend.

"Thank you so much." Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura did the same but could not hold that position for long. It may have just been her imagination but Ino reeked of Sasuke. Not that it was a bad smell. It just wasn't something that Sakura wanted wafting into her nostrils; unless it was coming from her own body of course.

"Tsunade-sama is on her way to see him. He's not indecent is he?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ino put both of her hands on her face and shook her head. "You know don't you? This is really embarrassing."

"I'll say. I bet you're more of an inspiration to Jiraiya's dirty novels than Hinata and Neji." (It took Sakura a while to admit that she liked all of the latest smut fests that lined the shelves of Kakashi's apartment.)

"So that's where he got that idea. Only he can portray incest so tastefully." Ino said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Today was a trying day for the both of us. How about we go somewhere for my lunch break? This will be one of the few times I'll be able to take a break without Naruto wandering nearby." Sakura took Ino by the hand. "But first, let's fix you up."

"There's something else I need to ask you." Ino hesitated. She had been longing to ask Sakura something for the longest, but could never gather enough courage. "I guess you know how Sasuke and I are having problems."

"_Problems? You two make the Chuunin exam look like a mere water balloon fight."_ Sakura looked deep into her friend's blue eyes, carefully fighting the grin that was threatening to spread across her face. "EVERYBODY knows."

"Since you're so good with advice and this whole Serenity thing, I was wondering if you might be able to help us." Ino nervously waited for Sakura's answer.

Inner Sakura emerged from her dwellings_. "She can't be serious. She is! Hell yeah! This gives me an idea!" _"I'd be glad to help you two. The thing is you have to know the differences between males and females…personality wise I mean."

"I'm all ears." Ino said, relived to have confirmed that Sakura was over Sasuke and was willing to be supportive.

"First of all," Sakura began, "males are human. We women are not. We're higher forms of life."

Ino drew her eyebrows together. "I'm not sure I follow you."

"Okay, bad example." This was going to be tougher than Sakura thought. After years of stalking, she knew Sasuke's personality inside and out. The trouble was, Ino knew his personality as well. She had to find some way give "bad good" advice and create a not so obviously planned personality clash between them. "I guess what I'm trying to say is…you don't want him to think that he's got the upper hand when it comes to you both."

Ino slightly jerked her head back in confusion. "I still don't get it."

"C'mon. I'll explain it to you along the way…"

Later that night, Sasuke hobbled down the dimly lit halls of the hospital. He wasn't fitted with his special walking cast yet and had to rely on two crutches to get around. Ino followed closely behind him as he slowly walked up to the door of Michio's room.

Ino stepped in front of Sasuke to block him from reaching the handle. "Why don't you check on him tomorrow? He needs his rest."

"He should already be asleep at this time."

"You'll only wake him up. He's a kid. He'll recover quickly." Sasuke put his weight on his crutches and tried to guide Ino away from the door with his hand. She brushed it away and continued. "Plus, Sakura's been taking care of him. She's one of the best medic-nins in the village."

"Wait here," he told her, "I won't be long." She stepped aside and waited in the hall for Sasuke to return.

Michio's room was dark except for a small night-light that was plugged into a wall next to his bed. It wasn't easy for Sasuke to quietly approach Michio's bed because the crutches clicked whenever they hit the floor. On the other end of the room a woman, more than likely the boy's mother, was sitting motionless in an armchair. It was impossible to see her face in the dark: impossible to see her peering through semi-open eyelids at the gorgeous masculine entity that had just sauntered into the room.

Just as suspected, Michio was fast asleep. There was just enough light for Sasuke to examine the Genin's body and see that the medic- nins had done a good job healing him. Sasuke was confident that there was a very good chance that he would be back on his feet and training within the next few days. He traced his finger on the warm skin along the sides of Michio's hairline and listened to his heavy breathing. He looked so innocent--not at all like an aggressive fighter.

Sasuke tried to comprehend why he liked Michio so much. By no means did he give his student special treatment. If anything, Sasuke wished that he could push him harder than his older teammates. He did understand that Michio was a lonely little boy who craved attention and at times would act obnoxious just so someone would notice him. But at the same time he valued his training and put his all into everything that he did. His chakra control's first rate, he was a brilliant tactician, and he's highly intelligent. Maybe that's why Sasuke liked him. He was almost like a combination of both him and Naruto--along with a little bit of Sakura…Sakura. Sasuke's train of thought was broken when the lights suddenly flickered on.

"You must be Uchiha Sasuke," a female voice addressed from behind him. "I'm Michio's mother." Sasuke turned around and faced her. The woman appeared to be young. She was more than likely in her mid to late-twenties. He watched her eyes; they were looking him up and down. "Yes, you're definitely Uchiha Sasuke."

"I'll leave now." Sasuke was about to leave but the woman stopped him by standing in front of him.

"He's always talking about you. But I've known about you for years. I've even seen you around the village a and I must say that I'm a fan." She moved her body even closer to his. "He's gotten so confident these past number of months. His father had always wanted him to be a great ninja like he was."

"He will be." Sasuke said softly. He tried to subtly move away from her but she was persistent.

"When his father died, Michio's whole life revolved around training. Even though he had inherited his father's advanced bloodline, sometimes I fear for his life. He's still so young." The woman was now getting dangerously close to where Sasuke was standing. He could now feel the woman's warm breath blowing on his neck. "He's all I have. I really get scared sometimes."

"He's highly advanced and his teammates are the best in the village." Sasuke nearly stumbled on his crutches. He didn't know the woman personally, but he had seen her during Michio's Genin graduation. He also recognized her as one of the many women who would gawk at him whenever he crossed her path.

"I'm so glad that the famous Uchiha heir is training my son. Since there is no man in my life, I have to depend on him." She said, slowly sliding his hand up Sasuke's back up to his shoulder. Sasuke didn't move as the woman's breath continued to blow against the sensitive skin on his neck. She had little effect on him, but he didn't know how to get away from her without giving himself the appearance of unease. Her fingers caressed his neck and around his chin. Her hand was soft, almost soothing. He wanted her to keep going, but he could not allow her to entangle him in her web of…_oh yeah, that's the spot_...AARRGGHH! He jerked away. There's no telling what the woman would do next if he became like putty as a result of her touch…her very smooth touch…putty.

Snap back to reality.

He wasn't going to let a woman get the better of him. How was he going to get out of this? The solution to Sasuke's problem would be revealed in a matter of seconds.

"I thought you said you weren't going to be long." Ino stood behind them with her arms folded. Only a woman who's trying to catch her husband in the act could have done a better job than a ninja trained in espionage at entering a room without making a sound. (A combination of the two is just deadly.) "What's going on here?" Before Sasuke could answer, the woman threw herself on his chest and started crying. Oh great, all he needed was something to cause Ino's jealousy to flare up.

And flare up it did. "What are you doing, Sasuke?" Ino growled.

"She's upset because of her son." Sasuke's knees buckled under the pressure of the woman's weight on his chest. Ino could see this, but if she understood why Sasuke was getting weak in the knees was yet to be established.

"Don't worry," Ino said to the woman in a surprisingly calm tone but with her eyelid twitching. "He'll be alright." Ino tried to gently pull the woman away, but she wouldn't budge. "Okaaaay, I'll help you get to the chair now." Ino tried a little harder, but the woman still wouldn't budge. Now Ino was fuming and proceeded to tug hard at the woman. "Will you get off of my husband!" Ino bore her fangs. Even though she was a highly skilled ninja and well-trained fighter, she was a woman first and had no qualms about engaging in a good old-fashioned catfight and scratch out the eyes of another woman who had the audacity to touch her husband.

Michio woke up in all of the commotion that was happening before him. What a bazaar sight it must have been for the poor little Genin to wake up to. Among the chorus of "Why aren't you letting him go!" and "I'm so scared" and "Stop pulling! You're both stepping on my foot!" Michio was completely confused as to what was going on with these adults acting so strangely.

"Sasuke- sensei?" Michio said as he rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. "What are you doing with my mom? Are you giving her some?"

Everyone froze in place. "What does he mean by that?" Ino practically snarled that question. The woman let Sasuke go and went to her son. Sasuke knew he would be getting chewed out tonight and there would be no make up sex for at least a week. He may even be camped out on the couch. But that was nothing new.

"Go back to sleep, Michio. I'll see you tomorrow." Sasuke said, making his way out with Ino in toe.

Ino walked ahead of Sasuke without slowing her strides so that he could catch up with her. (Not that he was making an effort to anyway.) "You want to tell me what the problem is?" he asked her.

"Don't talk to me." She hissed. She stopped and turned around with flames roaring behind her. "I saw you get weak in the knees over that woman! AND I saw how you let her put her hands all over you! Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Sasuke stood still, careful not to touch his bad foot on the floor. "Have you failed to remember that I only have one leg?"

"I said don't talk to me!" Ino stormed even further ahead of him. He was certainly going to get an earful.

"Lovely." He said sarcastically. "I can't wait to get home."

_**

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A/N: This chap was an ass kicker! Well, that's one mystery solved. But more are popping up. (When will the madness end!) Until chapter 6, everyone! **_

_P.S.: Check out my bio! _

**-Dawn E. Sky-**


	6. Filler part 1

**Dear Cherry Blossom** a.k.a **Sweet Serenity**

**A/N:** Okaaaayyyyy… This is half of a filler. This filler chap won't be as crazy as the last, but there is some important stuff here. So, enjoy! I'll try not to have anymore huge time gaps. Sorry, school beckons.

**Recap:** Sasuke got his leg broke, Naruto got his pride broke, and a feisty woman almost got her neck broke.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. BUT I OWN THE FREAKIN' WORLD!!! HA!HA!HA! (Laughs evilly while running away from the angry mob carrying torches and pitch forks.)

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**Filler Part 1**

The night was still young…very young. It was dark out, but the bright moon and the stars left enough light to help guide two of the village's most unhappy ninja back home. The people of Konoha were just beginning to settle back into their homes for a quiet evening of recovery from the tedious tasks that they had faced that day. It was no surprise that Sasuke and Ino weren't following suit. They were spending their night arguing again. They didn't say very much to each other on the way home--the distance of a good 20 feet between them made it quite difficult to communicate -- but as soon as Ino reached the front step, all hell broke loose.

She stood in front of the door, searching for her keys and shouting for him to hurry up. Sasuke carefully balanced his weight on each crutch, trying to ignore the dull ache in his leg while refusing to look at the angry woman. He glanced at her every once in a while, but only for a split second. One harsh look from her burning eyes may cause him to turn to stone. The injured Uchiha was sure Ino knew he was deliberately pissing her off even more by walking slower than the actual speed he was able to walk. If she had a problem with the way he was walking… well… too bad for her! He wasn't going to allow her to intimidate him into walking any faster. There was no telling what exactly she was going do or say to him once he got in the house. It's not like it mattered. He'd just be blocking out about half of what she said away.

Slowing her edgily tapping foot, she bent down to pick up the newspaper from the front step. Once she got a good grip around the paper, she hit it violently against her other hand while waiting for her crippled husband to maneuver his crutches up the walkway. She was certain that he was intentionally taking his sweet time and was growing increasingly impatient with him. She desperately wanted to spit out everything that was gathering in her head on the way home.

"You've got one minute to get up here, or I'm going inside and locking you out!" Ino yelled out ferociously. Thunder was the only noise on the planet that could match the caliber of her angry voice.

"A lot of good that will do, I have a key." Sasuke said calmly in hopes of getting her to shut up at least until he got there. Ino released her sudden jolt of anger by hitting the front door with the rolled up newspaper. Sasuke looked up at her and smiled against her scowl. His calm disposition made Ino so angry that she was speechless for the moment. That was until he finally reached the front step, walked in the house, and closed the door behind him.

Anyone within a five-block radius of the Uchiha district could hear them. The combination of Ino's yelling and Sasuke's discouraged sighs made it impossible for even the heaviest of sleepers to close an eye for one minute before it was forced open again by the banging noise that was Ino throwing a plate against a wall. All Sasuke could do was sit at the table and tolerate his wife's rambling, occasionally getting a counter argument in whenever she paused to take a breath. He lightly knocked his fist on the table, ignoring a majority of what she was saying and thinking of how nice it would be to just get up a walk away. He wouldn't have been able to go anywhere just yet; Ino had taken his crutches. The plate that she chosen to enact her anger on laid on the kitchen floor, scattered in a million pieces around their feet.

"You knew EXACTLY what was going to happen when you got there didn't you?! Is that why you wanted to leave your room so badly?!" Ino yelled, slamming the newspaper against the kitchen table. "Makes me wonder what would have happened if he wasn't in there! You would have allowed that woman to keep feeling up on you! WOUNDN"T YOU?!! " Sasuke drew his eyebrows together. Where was this woman getting her logic? If Michio weren't in there, he wouldn't have been in there either. He didn't bother to waste what little sanity he had left trying to figure her out. It was a wise decision not to say a word because experience told him that saying the wrong thing would set her off like a time bomb. He was already treading on thin ice and one false action would cause the already paper-thin surface to crack…unless his next move was carefully planned. It was a little hard for him to plan out what to do or say next. He was too busy trying to fight off another feeling building up inside of him.

Sasuke used his thumb and middle finger of one hand to rub his temples and thought for a second, quickly coming up with something to say in his defense. "How was I to know his mother would be in there?" Shifting his weight for more comfort on his chair, the felt the tension in the air thicken. Why had Ino's glare upgraded into a death stare? He must have said something wrong.

"Don't give me that nonsense!" Ino anger soared even higher and her skin turned bright red to match her rising temper. "Her son almost died! Where the hell else would a mother be?!" So THAT'S what she was getting at! Oddly enough that kind of made sense…in a way…fuck it, she was making absolutely NO sense! Sasuke straightened himself up in his chair and looked her straight in her exposed eye.

"And you know all about that don't you?" he remarked, facial expression demanding that Ino hand over his crutches. Ino's eyes bulged at his comment and she drew in a deep breath. She threw her head to one side, trying to figure out a good reason to change the subject. Mostly keep it from heading in the direction that Sasuke was trying to get it in. The injured Jounin looked over at her steadily, waiting for a response.

Although her frigid stance told him that she had nothing to say, he clearly saw that her refusal to return his crutches and let him go meant that he had not won the argument. One of the crutches twirled on the floor like a slow moving spinning top underneath Ino's hand. The other leaned against the wall, much too far away from where Sasuke was sitting. Ino wasn't done with her husband yet and was not willing to give them back to him. She closed her eyes to think then opened them again. "You didn't even ask how things went with my client today."

He sank down a few inches into his chair, anxiously tapping his fingers on the table, watching Ino begin the pick up the shattered pieces of plate that she had thrown against the wall. After she had cleaned the floor, Ino looked up and noticed that something was off about him by the way he was trying not to look at her by focusing hard on his crutches. He was more than likely going to sit there without saying anything, so she handed them back to him and turned to leave.

"How did things go with your client?" Sasuke asked, stopping Ino in her tracks. She didn't look back at him when she answered.

"Terrible. He practically called me a tramp for worrying about you." She spoke a little harshly to ensure that her voice would convey how she felt.

"Let him call you that, you make everyone else stick to calling you 'stuck up'." Oops. Sasuke immediately knew he had just made the wrong choice of words. Ino's chest rose and her eyes widened before she turned to face him. "I take it back." He said in a low voice, although knowing that he had already ignited a deadly spark. Why didn't he just keep his mouth shut? He had just given her another reason to yell at him. He couldn't help it. He was able to remain calm for the first part of the argument, but he couldn't hold this growing feeling inside of him for much longer. It was those feelings building up inside of him that made him _want_ to piss her off even more.

"Do you even care that everything went wrong today because of YOU!!!" Ino came closer to him, eyes daring him to look her in the face and say something else stupid.

Sasuke was aware that Ino was thinking he had gone too far, but at the same time, he was feeling that he had not gone far enough. Forget treading on thin ice. He had already crashed through the fragile surface and drowned in the cold waters underneath. This was a risky thing that he was doing, but taking risks was part of being a male Uchiha. Especially when his manhood was on the line. "Alright then." He sighed. "I'll take care of it. I can't have anyone insulting my wife."

Ino hit her hand so hard on the table that it shook. "I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm!"

The sensation was getting increasingly hard for him to control. It gushed from the depths of his abdomen to every square inch of his body, internally burning him in the process. His deep breathing lessened into irregular gasps for air, his body temperature rising with his Sharingan flashing off and on. He knew what was causing it and he knew that it would only be a matter of seconds. He lowered is head to hide the beads of sweat forming around his hairline. She just had one more negative thing to say before he would lose all control and act out on his feelings.

The seconds turned into minutes, and Ino leaned her bodyweight onto one leg, looking down at her husband, waiting for him to say something else: therefore justifying her urge to hit him. Had he been an enemy, she would have taken one of his crutches and mercilessly bashed him in the head with it. She wouldn't do that to her husband, though. She didn't have to. She knew her words hurt just as much as any physical thrashing. The argument was over now, but Ino, had to get in one last phrase. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at the mass of black hair on his lowered head. "Sometimes you can be a real jerk."

That did it. Using the kitchen table and his crutches for balance, he slowly stood up from the kitchen chair and grabbed her by the elbow. She gasped in shock as she aggressively yanked her arm out of his grip and smacked his hand away from her. He held both of his crutches under one arm for balance, leaving him with only one free hand to work with. He used that hand to take hold of her belt buckle and pull her even closer to him. She entire face tightened and she instinctively moved her head to one side to keep it out of the way of his warm breath blowing on her skin.

He brought his mouth to her ear, lightly brushing the lobe with his lips and then he trailed his lips down her jaw line to her mouth where he kissed her lightly. She managed to push him away and open her mouth to say something, but in order to shut her up; he put weight on her upper body, forcing her to bend backwards over the kitchen table. Dropping is crutches to the floor Sasuke supported his weight on his good leg and lowered his body, pressing it down hard on hers to keep her trapped more firmly.

Everything centered on her eye, the light blue orb like the color of the sky. Why she kept her other eye covered with her hair was anyone's guess. His hand rose, moving her hair so that all of her face was exposed. Sasuke felt his urge to ravage her ooze through his body, forcing all of his instincts to rise to the surface. Two heavy puffs of air escaped his lungs before shoving his tongue into her mouth. Sasuke could feel Ino gathering some chakra to strengthen her muscles to get him off, but he was too strong for her even without the aid of his chakra. Feeling her body weaken from the loss of chakra, she helplessly laid beneath him allowing him kiss her for a little while.

Her body was very still. Her muscles relaxed, and her breathing steady. But then she struggled, twisting and squirming from side to side. She placed each of her hands on either side of his shoulders and tried to push him off, but he took both of her hands into his and held them tightly. He carefully raised his bad leg and put one knee on the table and held her hands above her head. His fingers gathered both of her wrists and held them together in one hand so that he could have one free hand to unbutton the first few buttons of her shirt.

It was strange that she was acting this way. Her body was writhing for all its worth, but she never broke from the kiss even though she could have at anytime. He loosened his grip on her wrists to see if she would move. To his relief she stayed put, almost as if she was unaware that she could move out of his grasp anytime she wanted. He would never force her to do anything she didn't want, but he wasn't ready to stop engaging in foreplay. His dominate male instincts kicked into full gear and he was in complete control. That's the way he liked it. Sasuke raised his torso, his throbbing manhood pressing against Ino's leg through his pants.

He was certain that he could completely let her go without her trying to get away from him now, so he released her wrist and raised his head from her mouth, locking his eyes with hers. His sharingan pupils were bright and no longer sporadically changing from red to black. She had no expression on her face, making it hard to tell what she was thinking…not that he cared. As long as she appeared to be interested and he was getting what he wanted. Once he had unbuttoned the top half of the buttons on her shirt, he moved his head down to her chest area pressing his lips on the exposed skin along the way.

Ino contemplated the thought of submitting to Sasuke twice in one day, but then she remembered something. It was the valuable advice that her best friend had given her earlier that day. "Get off of me." she whispered even though she was running her fingers through his hair.

"Is that what you want?" He responded. "Tell me. Do you really want me to get off?"

"I…uhhhhhhhh…" She couldn't finish her sentence because he was licking her collarbone, making her body tingle all over. He trailed his tongue back up to her mouth and slowly pushed his hand up under her shirt. Ino whimpered slightly when Sasuke's fingers grazed her nipple through the smooth fabric that covered her chest. It was impossible for him to not feel a sense of pride; he was getting her aroused for the second time in a row. Three times if he counted the night before.

"What's my name?" Sasuke thrust his lower body, earning and shriek from the woman below him. His tongue teased her neck, leaving a warm trail of saliva that instantly got cold when the air hit it.

"Sasukeeeee!" the woman involuntarily cried out from the pleasure.

"You know I won't accept that as an answer." He stared hungrily at her, letting her know that he was reclaiming his masculinity. His hand moved from under her shirt, down her thigh and guided her leg up onto the table. Her warm skin felt good under his touch and a soft moan escaped her mouth as he rubbed circles on her leg. Perhaps he _would _be engaging in make up sex tonight!

Sasuke loosened his belt buckle and dug his arm under Ino's back to encourage her off the table. He was standing in an awkward position and his good leg was giving way from standing on it for so long. The couch was a nicer place to continue. She was complying, clutching the back of his head with her fingers and lifting her upper body slightly off the table.

All of their problems appeared to be forgotten until in a flash she forced her mouth away from his and pushed him back. He hopped back on his foot trying to catch his balance so not to land on his bad leg. He didn't notice her using her other hand to reach for the rolled up newspaper behind her. If he did, he may have been able to duck before she whacked him over the head with it. There was a pause as Ino closed the front part of her shirt with one hand and got off of the table. Finally she spoke again.

"Don't think that this is going to make me forget the fact that you let some strange woman put her hands all over you!" Ino pulled the hair that dangled freely at the front of her head behind her ear, enabling her to stare ruthlessly at her husband with both eyes. Sasuke stood on his one foot with his hand covering the spot where he was hit, completely dumbfounded, giving her a _"Have you gone completely insane?!"_ look.

"Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about!" She demanded. "I was waiting for your leg to start shaking like a dog's!" Sasuke was still in shock. "You're sleeping on the couch tonight!" She stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

A painful knot formed at the top of Sasuke's throat, and he swallowed it back down. She had gotten riled up, causing him to completely let his guard down. He was completely frozen from the shock of Ino's violent rejection and had no idea what to do next. Sasuke gathered his crutches and left the kitchen, his mind was going nuts from what had just happened, making it difficult to focus long enough to make it to the couch with stumbling over his own feet. He made himself comfortable on the couch and thought to himself.

A dog.

That's the first time she said anything like that. That had to have been one of the most insulting comparison that she ever made with him. "This is your life." He muttered to himself, using his hands to help get his bad leg on the couch. He curled both lips inward, thinking of how much he didn't what to sleep on that narrow couch tonight. He was about to get up but then he stopped himself. She was really pissed when she left him in the kitchen. Who knows what more she'd do while in this fit of fury. He still needed to get up the stairs to his bedroom…he had to brush his teeth. Yeah, that's a good reason to go upstairs without her chewing him out again. Why should he be afraid of her anyway? It was HIS house. She had no authority to kick him out of HIS bedroom make him sleep on the couch. Then he realized that he didn't have much of a choice now because his leg hurt too badly for him to try to make it up all of those stairs.

He still wanted to give it a shot regardless of his foot. Once again he reached for something to balance himself but halted once he heard Ino coming back down the stairs. "_Good_," he thought, "_she was coming to apologize_." Only this time he wouldn't forgive her right away…he'll make her beg. Not a bad idea. First, he'd tell her that her apology was not sincere enough for him. Although he wouldn't be cruel enough to do so, he entertained the thought of making her grovel at his feet. The best thing for him to do was nonchalantly tell her that he'd need the night to think about, but in his mind he'd be saying _"On your knees, BITCH!!!"_

He soon found out that she wasn't coming back to ask for forgiveness. How foolish was he to think that she was coming back down to apologize? She came back down with his blanket and a pillow…along with his toothbrush.

"Use the guest bathroom." She said before dropping the stuff next to him and going back up the stairs. Sasuke sat quiet for a few moments, trying to pull himself together. He continuously wondered to himself how this night would have ended differently had he not said what he said. He decided that it wasn't worth spending any more time and energy on her tonight and gave his mind a rest. He limped into the downstairs bath and emerged ready for bed.

Over on the small table next to the couch was the picture of Sakura and Ino. He picked it up as he had done the night before and stared at it while thinking about his encounter with Sakura earlier that day. He regretted being too caught up in self-pity and blowing that opportunity to talk to her alone. "The next chance I get…" he promised himself and rested the picture across his chest before going to sleep.

Ino paced back and forth around the room while brushing her hair, fighting the impulse to go back downstairs. She felt such a mixture of emotions that she wasn't sure how to describe whether or not she was upset. She followed her best friend's advice and refused to let Sasuke have the upper hand, but Sakura failed to mention how bad the situation between her and Sasuke would get before it would start to improve.

She trusted her friend, so there was no reason for her to be upset. She even smirked a little at the thought of her brief victory by not letting Sasuke's lust for dominance get the better of her. She still had her doubts, though. The argument was vicious--too vicious-- and the guilt started eating away at her insides. Hopefully talking to Sakura tomorrow will help her feel better.

She set her hairbrush on the nightstand and spotted the jewelry box that her father had given her a long time ago. Even though it is one of her favorite gifts, it was the thing inside that was far more valuable it her. She opened the little draw and pulled out a kunai. It was old, rusty, and the blade was chipped, but she didn't care. It was the only ugly thing she kept. After winding it between her fingers for a little while, she put it back in drawer and slid under the sheets. "Sakura," she said laying her head on her pillow. "I hope you're right."

The next morning, Ino woke up not it high spirits. She had spent much of the night trying to figure out if Sakura was right in telling her that Sasuke should be the first to apologize, but couldn't come up with a viable conclusion. It wasn't the first time he came on to her in that way before as argument was over and she feared that actually might be his sordid way of apologizing. She thought about it over and over again as she got dressed.

She left the room and went past the couch where Sasuke had just woken up. He had no reason to wake up at the crack of dawn since his foot would be keeping him off the training grounds for a while. When he noticed that she was fully dressed and about to leave, he became curious. He raised his head, stretched out his arms, and yawned out a sleepy "Where are you going?" as she walked by him.

"Out." She responded, sitting a small area of couch next to him. "Remember to keep your foot elevated." She kissed him on the forehead and left the house. Sasuke drew in eyebrows together if confusion. After all of these years of being the surrounded by fangirls, one would think that The Great Uchiha heir would have a better understanding of women. Refusing to think anymore on the subject, Sasuke heaved a deep sigh and dropped his head back onto his pillow.

Ino couldn't get last night's events out of her mind. Sasuke, she mused silently, wouldn't understand why she didn't want to tell him that she was going to one of the only places where she could find solace…her former sensei's grave. He never knew about the little tradition that she and her former teammates started about one year after Asuma died. It was their little secret. The place where he's buried, a little secluded from the other ninja burials, had a relaxing but at times lonely atmosphere. She, Chouji, and Shikamaru would visit him on the anniversary that they all became a team to keep him company, sometimes telling him about everything that was going on in their lives.

A few feet from her destination, she could sense the chakra of her follow shinobi. The distant form didn't have to take full shape for her to figure out who it was. By the time she got there, Chouji was already waiting for the arrival of the other two. He smiled at her, but immediately frowned in dismay when he saw how down Ino was looking. He stretched out his arm and allowed her to walk up to him and rest her head on his shoulder.

"It's you and Sasuke again, isn't it?" He asked. She nodded without picking up her head. He stroked his hand through her hair and reached around her back to rest his hand on her shoulder. "Do you want me to talk him?"

Before she could answer, a tall male strolled to the gravesite, carrying his Jounin vest with one hand and the other buried deep in his pocket. As usual he had his brown hair pulled behind his head, the same look of indifference, and his eyes looking up at the sky.

"Don't tell me. You and Sasuke had another argument." Shikamaru speculated after walking in on the scene of Ino having to be comforted by her friend. Ino looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, I forgot the flowers." Ino's voice cracked. It slipped her mind to stop at the flower shop and grab something for Asuma's grave, but Chouji brought his own and divided his bunch between the three of them. All three kneeled in front of the head stone and placed their flowers on the ground. They spent about an hour conversing and joking, each of them reminiscing, talking about how good their Genin squads were doing, the upcoming Chunnin exams--basic ninja stuff.

When they felt that they said all that they had to say, the trio stood around the headstone, and bowed together. Ino and Chouji took a few steps away, but stopped and looked over their shoulders when they realized that Shikamaru was not following them. They looked at each other, each one waiting for the other to explain what Shikamaru was doing, then watched him pull something out of his vest and place it on the ground next to the flowers. Ino snatched it back up when she noticed what it was.

"Will you stop trying to give him cigarettes?" Ino fussed.

"Come on," Shikamaru beckoned. "It's not like he's got anything else to do."

"How much can he do? He' DEAD!" Ino shoved the cigarette box back into Shikamaru's vest.

"Well, at least we know they can't hurt him." Shikamaru stuck his hand back in his pocket and Ino placed her hand over her forehead, nodding in disbelief.

"Oh brother." Chouji rolled his eyes. "Hey Ino, is there anything we can do help you?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to him la…ter…" Something jumped into Ino's mind and she darted off quickly towards the village.

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru called after her.

"I'm um…meeting Sakura for lunch in a few minutes." Ino called back before she ran off.

"Lunch?" Chouji checked his watch. "It's still breakfast---too late, she's gone." Chouji said as Ino disappeared into the distance.

"It's a troublesome waste of time trying to figure her out." Chouji nodded in agreement. "So, do you want to go get something for breakfast?" Shikamaru asked.

Chouji's face brightened. "You don't have to ask me that twice."

"Good." Shikamaru flipped his vest over his shoulder and glanced at Asuma's grave one last time. "Afterwards you can help me find my squad. I shudder to think of what Naruto has done to them in my absence."

"About that," Chouji began with a chuckle. "Which one of them kicked your ass this time?" Shikamaru just rolled his eyes. The two gave one final bow to Asuma's grave and walked back to the village.

Ino ran straight to the hospital and hysterically searched for Sakura. Among all of the typical hospital clatter and commotion, it would almost be impossible to precisely pinpoint her best friend's location. She was about to ask the next person she saw where Sakura was, but then it suddenly crossed her mind where Sakura would be. She dashed down the hall, following the descending numbers on each door until she reached the number she was looking for. Just as she figured, Sakura was coming out of Michio's room.

"He's recovering so fast." Sakura informed, noticing how out of breath Ino was. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Ino put her hand up to her chest, calming her lungs enough to talk without gasping for air. "Sasuke's going to be here to get his leg looked at and I know for a fact that he's going to check on his Genin."

"So what's the problem?" Sakura had an idea of what Ino was about to say because her little patient had already blabbed the details about last night's incident to her. She played dumb in hopes of getting more information about what happened.

"The boy's mother." Ino sighed. "She's a nut case!" Sakura bit her lip in disappointment. It looks like she'd have to be the one to drag the details out of Ino.

"Oh yeah. Michio had just told me about what happened." Sakura waited to see if Ino was going to continue the conversation, but Ino didn't comment. "He's very intelligent for a boy his age, yet he's a little naïve. What exactly did he mean by Sasuke giving his mother some?"

Ino shrugged and shook her head. "Not even _I_ want to know. Will you please find some way to keep her away from Sasuke while I'm gone?"

"_HELL YEAH!!!" _Inner Sakura cheered_. "I'll get her out of the way, all right…out of MY way!" _Don't worry." She giggled. "I'll protect him for you.

"Great." Ino smiled, shoulders dropping in relief. "I'll see you for lunch then?"

"I'll be there." Sakura said as Ino took off. Sakura's lips curved in a wicked smile when she realized that she'd be getting Sasuke alone that day. If Ino had the slightest idea of Sakura's true intentions, she may have noticed Sakura had a little too much enthusiasm towards Ino's odd request. Sakura squealed in her excitement and went off to finish her tasks before he arrived.

* * *

Sasuke usually woke up early -way early before any ray the sun's rays broke through the dark night sky- ready to meet his squad, take advantage of having the entire training grounds all to himself, or spar with another one of Konoha's early risers (Usually that overrated Hyuuga prodigy). But today he slept in. He had been ordered to keep off of his leg as much as possible and in less than a day later, the lack of any physical activity was driving him crazy. At least going to the hospital today to start the healing process on his leg gave him something to do for the first half of the day.

Sasuke sat up on the couch, his leg aching a little from lack of proper elevation. His stomach rumbled in protest of him not eating a thing since yesterday's mission, making him realize that he had to ignore the pain in his leg unless he wanted his hungry stomach to continue to serenade him with it's almost painful morning song. He carefully picked his foot off the couch and swung his body around so that his good foot was the first to touch the floor. His broken leg did not like this sudden change in gravity and let Sasuke know almost immediately.

"I hate you." Sasuke growled almost involuntarily. His leg responded to its ungrateful owner by sending another intense wave of pain. He felt silly, fussing at his own body part as if it could talk back to him. He may as well get used to being a little immobile--LIMITED-- because he'd be depending on his crutches to get around until he got his special walking cast. It wasn't a terrible break, but it was enough to weaken his significantly. Fortunately for him, the team of medic-nins had special ways of making broken bones heal a little faster. This meant going back to the hospital for the next few weeks and having them perform some new kind of medical ninjutsu. It's really impressive how their techniques had advanced over the years.

This gave him hope--hope of soon getting back to training his Genin before they became too slack in his absence, hope of being able to go back to the special care facilities so that he can make fun of his brother some more, and most importantly, hope of reclaiming his bedroom without the disadvantage of not being able to climb up all of those stairs after Ino kicks him out.

Sasuke closed his eyes a moment, then opened them again and picked up his crutch. He used it to stand up while grabbing the other one and hobbled into the kitchen. The only thing his leg permitted him to stand long enough and prepare was cereal. He didn't like the tasteless cereal Ino bought, but his stomach was in no mood for him to be particular. Propping his foot on the small stool next to his chair, he made a mental note of all of the things he had to do today…

1) Finish eating breakfast. (He must have been bored if he included THAT in the list)

2) Go to the hospital and get his leg looked at.

3) Visit Michio and see how well he was recovering…that was it. Damn.

What was he going to do for the rest of the day? He couldn't train, there was no one he wanted to talk to, no other places that he wanted to go…wait a minute. Sakura's supposed to be at the hospital today. Maybe he if were to run into her, she'd talk to him. Of course she would. He swallowed down the remainder of his cereal and as quickly as his crippled leg would let him, got ready for the day so that he could head out early. The sooner he got his leg checked on and visited his Genin, the sooner he'd be free to look for Sakura.

Sometime later, Sasuke came hobbling into the hospital. It took him a longer than expected to get there, because he had to deal with hordes of fangirls fawning over his casted foot, grabbing at his crutches, offering him their shoulders to lean on. He hopped steadily through the long halls (he had refused the wheelchair offered to him) to where he was supposed to go and waited for the next team of medic-nin to look at him. They spent an hour or two performing their medical jutsu and then he took another x-ray when they where done. He had a little time before he would find out the results of this session, so he ventured out of his room to check on Michio.

"Don't worry Sasuke- sensei." Michio assured. "My mom's at work." Sasuke was astounded at how this young child had picked up his adult sense of unease when he walked into his room. Young children had a special awareness that seems to steadily disappear later in life. Michio had no problem piecing together why Sasuke knocked first, then peered through the door before entering.

Michio sat up on his bed, holding up a little stuffed dog that was covered in white fur with big brown sad eyes and black spots. It was raggedy looking and covered with stains from years played with and slept on by the young child. "This is Mr. Wags." He grabbed the little tail and wagged it for side to side. "My dad gave him to me for my first birthday." He began to bounce the dog around and make yelping noises that almost simulated a puppy's bark.

A stuffed animal? Barking? He was acting way too much like a typical little boy. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise since the child was only seven years old, but Sasuke was feeling uncomfortable with his superstar Genin acting so…childlike. Michio hugged the stuffed toy against his chest and looked up at his sensei with tears in his eyes. "I don't know how he died, but my mom says it was a red eyed monster. Someone with red eyes hurt me too."

"_Red eyed Moster?" _Sasuke thought, hating the idea of the boy's motherwas keeping him from reality by using words like "monster" to describe things she must think he's too young to understand._ "She must have meant my brother's Sharingan. I guess it was Itachi that killed his father over two years ago. But who's causing trouble now?" _Sasuke's mind retraced all of the events that happened on their special mission.There was still some vital information missing. "_Red eyes, hand signs similar to my clan's for performing fire style jutsu, dodging everything I threw at him…something's doesn't add up." _

"Oh yeah, I have something to show you." Michio exclaimed, breaking Sasuke out of his concentration. Since he was still considerably weak, Michio's body fell hard against the bed. He managed to gather enough strength to lift his shirt, revealing his first major battle scar on his belly. "Isn't it cool?" Only Michio would treat a disfiguring battle scar as if it were a medal of honor; a reward for surviving a life threatening situation. Proudly displaying the symbol of his bravery. This was the Michio that Sasuke admired.

"Put your shirt down Michio." A female voice said for the entrance of his room. They both looked in the direction the voice was coming from to see Shizune walking in. "I see that Sakura-sama has been taking good care of you. Sasuke, I have your x-ray." She pulled a dark sheet of an unidentifiable material out of a folder and held it up to the light. "We got it to start healing, but it's still going to take while before you can put any weight on it."

That wasn't what Sasuke wanted to hear and he outwardly let everyone in the room know it. "It's okay, Sasuke-sensei." Michio said with a mile wide grin forming on his face. "Mr. Wags will make you feel better!" That's also not what Sasuke wanted to hear. Michio laughed as he press his toy's cold plastic nose against his sensei's cheek and made a slurping sound. Sasuke cringed at the thought of where that stuffed dog has been for the past six years.

"Tell me more about what your mother told you." Sasuke said in an attempt to get Michio's mind off contaminating his face with that filthy stuffed animal.

"I don't know about the monster that killed my dad, but it was a person that stabbed me in the stomach." Michio's voice suddenly became so low that it was almost hard to understand. He cradled the dog closed to his chest and stroked its head softly. "I don't remember much. Just his eyes were glowing bright red."

"That's what all the Genin said." Shizune added. Sasuke tried to make sense of everything that they said. He couldn't figure it out.

"There you are." Another female voice said from the door's entrance. Sasuke didn't have to turn around to see who was standing there. He also knew who she was referring to. He heard her footsteps walk a little closer to everyone else and he held his breath when he felt a hand hovering over his shoulder.

"Mom, check this out!" Michio raised his shirt to show off his scar again.

"I see." The woman said slowly and turned to Shizune and Sasuke. "Do I have to look forward to my son coming home like this every time he goes out on a mission?" The two older shinobi didn't say anything. There was no way in existence to explain to a mother why she shouldn't worry about her severely injured child.

"Why are you getting mad, mom?" Michio asked innocently. "You said you wanted to be a ninja too. You even said the you wanted to train with Sasuke- sensei."

The boy's mother inhaled through her clenched teeth, holding in the sudden feelings of humiliation that were threatening to surface. "No I didn't."

"Don't you remember? You said last night that you would love to reach down his pants and grab his kunai!" Michio stopped and lightly scratched his head. "Or did you say gloss it?"

"OKAY. I think you misunderstood me…" His mother rushed to her son and wrapped her arms around him, covering his mouth with her hand. Shizune snickered while Sasuke grunted. He was feeling his face get hot and was hoping that his cheeks weren't getting flustered once his Genin started his little tell all.

"No I didn't!" Michio said under his mother's hand, voice muffled by the barrier. He put both of his hands on his mother's wrist and pulled her hand down to his chin level so that he could speak. "You said you'd be glad to bow down and call him master…although we don't call him master, we call him sensei-"

"That's enough out of you!" The woman's face turned bright red and she tried to hide her embarrassment by giggling and giving the two adults a "_kids say the darndest things_" look.

"What did I say?" In is efforts to defend his sensei, the poor Genin unknowingly proved to be an untrustworthy source to have nearby when talking to a friend about how the ultra hot sensei boosted one's sex drive. His mother had learned the hard way that before she spilled her guts to anyone, she had to make sure she was far away from the sensitive ears of her ninja son, even if he did look like he was soundly asleep.

"I think I should be going now." Sasuke got up to leave. It's a good thing Ino wasn't there. The only thing that would have kept Ino from strangling this woman was the fact that they were in a hospital with resuscitating equipment. Once he was out of the room, Sasuke put his crutches to work in order to get away as quickly as he could and see if Sakura was nearby. He barely made it five steps from Michio's room when he heard the woman's voice call his name. "Of course" Sasuke sighed and stopped trying to "run" away. He looked around the vicinity of the hallway, searching for anything to divert their attention. Luckily, he caught sight of Sakura coming down the hall, nervously glancing at her watch.

It was almost lunchtime and she only had a few minutes before she had to meet up with Ino. She knew she wouldn't have the time to speak with Sasuke if she found him, but kept looking for him anyway. She finally found him outside of Michio's room, once again getting harassed by a crazed fangirl. She walked up to them as normally as she could, so that her diversion would not look too obvious.

"So where's your wife? I feel awful about the way I acted last night. I hope there're no hard feelings, Sasuke-_kun_." The woman purred loud enough for Sakura to hear. "About what my son said. You know how wild a child's imagination could be…do I make you nervous?" She noticed Sasuke slightly turning his head to one side, which was a direct reaction to the woman bringing her face closer to his.

"_I see what Ino means. This woman IS a nut case!"_ Sakura thought to herself. _"I guess it's Sakura to the rescue."_ Sakura's facial muscles painfully quivered from between an evil glare and a visibly forced smile as she approached the two, earning a displeased look from the woman. "You're Matsushita Michio's mother aren't you?" The woman cocked her head to one side and Sakura continued. "I'm the one taking care of him (Sasuke heard that, right?) and I would like for you to come with me back into his room." The woman was disappointed, but she had no choice. She went back to her son's room with Sakura following closely behind. Before she went in, Sakura looked back at Sasuke who was shaking his head and grinning at her.

It was a shame that she wouldn't get to be alone with him that day but it wasn't a total loss. At least she got to score a few extra points with him.

Sasuke stumbled out of the hospital with his guard up in case his hoards of fangirls were waiting for him, ready to pounce on him in their efforts to be the first to get his attention. Envious of the fact that he was not blessed with the Hyuuga family's byakugan technique, he thoroughly searched the area, keeping his senses alert for the faintest trace of chakra. There was nothing. Most likely because it wasn't lunchtime yet and everyone was off doing their everyday things. With the coast clear, he stepped further into the shinning sun, still completely at a loss as to what he was going to do for the rest of the day. Sasuke would soon find out that annoying fangirls weren't all he needed to avoid that day. Why do loudmouthed knuckleheaded ninja always manage to show up whenever nobody wanted them around?

"Well, if it isn't Ol' Three Legs Uchiha in the flesh." Sasuke pretended not to see Naruto appear in front of him and continued to hobble home, violently brushing against Naruto's shoulder as he passed him. "What are you so pissy for?" Naruto raised a curious brow at his former teammate and jumped in front of him again. "Oh I get it, you and Ino had another fight."

Either Sasuke was becoming more and more transparent everyday or his arguments his fights with Ino were almost expected. Sasuke watched dimwitted friend walk in circles around him with his hands behind his back, eyes separating from each other when Naruto walked behind him and then meeting again when Naruto came back around. "I bet neither one of you apologized. Why don't you be a man and apologize first?"

Sasuke stopped hobbling and gave Naruto a blank stare. He was trying his best to hide it, but Naruto knew that Sasuke was hurting. Being a bachelor without very much experience when it came to relationships, Naruto could only imagine how much worse a fight between a husband and wife was than any other type of argument. It's seldom a good idea to butt in to someone else's personal life, but nonetheless, Naruto felt compelled to do something to help out his troubled friend.

"What if I talk to Ino for you?" Naruto suggested in a slightly more caring tone. "I'll take care of everything." Sasuke once again ignored Naruto and tried to get passed him. Naruto grabbed his shoulder with one hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone with the other. "Here. Call her up." Naruto offered Sasuke his phone. "And I'll tell you what to say. Trust me on this."

Sasuke only shrugged and looked down at his foot. "Do what you want. Nothing I say will make a difference." He moved his shoulder from under Naruto's hand and limped a few steps away from him.

"You're not going _anywhere_." The area that Naruto's body took up was replaced by a puff of smoke. In a split second, the smoke cleared leaving a very familiar image standing before Sasuke. "We're not done yet."

* * *

Ino was beaming from ear to ear when she met Sakura in the restaurant. Sakura had already been seated at a booth and took the liberty of ordering beverages for the both of them. Seeing Ino smiling after coming to her in a panic that morning made Sakura wonder what could possibly have such a positive effect on Ino that brought about this drastic change of mood. She had to find out what was going on. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

"He called me!" Ino answered jovially. "Sasuke called me!"

"Why are you acting like a giddy school girl?" Sakura's eyes narrowed in curiosity. What was the big deal about getting a phone call from her husband?

Ino sipped her tea, anticipating that the warm sensation would soothe her jumpy insides. "We got into another fight. But then he called me to see how I was doing!" She put her tea down and regained her composure, tracing the brim of the cup with her index finger.

Sakura cocked an eyebrow. This didn't sound like something Sasuke would do. A dreadful thought jumped into Sakura's head. What if her plan to ruin their marriage was backfiring and Sasuke was actually getting softer? There was no way- it was too soon. She needed to find out more. "No apology? Just a random 'how are you doing' phone call?"

"So what? At least he called." Ino got mildly upset over her best friend putting a damper on her temporary happiness.

"Have you forgotten everything that I told you yesterday? Why did you ask for my advice if you choose not to follow it?" She watched her best friend's hand tremble so uncontrollably in her excitement that she could barely hold onto her cup. Sakura lightly put her hand on Ino's, slowing down the shaking and bringing it under control. It did not faze Ino that Sakura was fussing at her like schoolteacher would a disobedient child.

"I did take your advice. I didn't let him think that he had the upper hand and it worked! He called to make sure I wasn't upset. He's got to be the most wonderful husband in the world!" Ino gripped her cup and held it tightly between her hands. "That reminds me. I never did tell you what he did for me two weeks ago…" Ino spent half of their lunchtime talking about her past with Sasuke. Before now, Ino held back on talking about her marriage because she did not want to get Sakura upset. Now that Sakura appeared to be completely over Sasuke, Ino was just glad to have someone to talk about her love life with. She didn't know that she was driving Sakura to the point of madness with every other one of her words being Sasuke's name.

Sakura scowled and began jabbing the food on her plate with the chopsticks enclosed inside of her fisted hand. Ino's mouth ran almost 1000 words per minute, making Sakura wonder if Ino would ever take a break to breathe…or eat…or bite her tongue…or something. Sakura had no choice but to cut Ino off in mid conversation. "So how is your squad doing?"

"We're doing pretty good." Ino answered, finding yet another opportunity to bring Sasuke back into the conversation. "Even Sasuke said that he was impressed by how well I had been training them. Sasuke also takes some time off to help me train. Did I tell you about that?"

"_SASUKE, SASUKE, SASUKE!!! Goodness, does she ALWAYS have to talk about Sasuke?" _Ino was too busy going on about Sasuke to notice Sakura drop her head to the table, hitting the surface with a loud thud.

Sakura had to end this insanity. She looked around the restaurant for anything that would be good for starting a new subject. A server walked by carrying a tray with some glasses of water. "_Perfect timing!" _Sakura discreetly stuck her foot out, causing the unsuspecting waiter to topple over and fall flat on his face. His tray flew across the nearby tables, sending water in all directions. Everyone in the restaurant stopped what they were doing to observe the chaos going on. "Oh look, let me help him up." She helped him up and helped him pick up the glasses. "These waiters are clumsy aren't they?"Sakura asked, climbing back up to her seat.

"Tell me about it. There was one time when Sasuke and I went to the restaurant outside the village, and this waiter there…"

AAHHHH!!! Ino _had_ to find a reason to keep talking about Sasuke! At least that's how Sakura had just envisioned what would have happened had she tripped the waiter. She had dreamt the whole incident to see how things may possibly turn out. That was one plan that was more than likely not going to work.

For the time being, Sakura had to endure how everything somehow reminded Ino of Sasuke: the food on the menu, the table cloth, that guy standing in the front that looked a lot like Sasuke…huh? Ino turned her head to the side because someone caught her attention. "Isn't that your old teammate over there?" Sakura glanced around Ino's head and saw a good-looking dark haired male around their age walking into the restaurant. It was Sai all right.

Sakura watched him with interest, eyeing the way he interacted with the greeter and then threw his head back in disdain after learning that he'd half to wait for an available table. At first it looked as if Sai was about to leave, but then his head did a double take when he saw the both of them. Sai smiled a little, waving his hand after confirming the familiar faces were indeed those of his fellow shinobi. Ino excitedly waved back while Sakura half waved, finding it hard to concentrate on the new plan formulating in her head and trying to look uninterested at the same time. It's wonderful being a genius. Ideas just popped into her head in a matter of seconds. She remembered how Ino had become mildly infatuated with him when they first met. _"I wonder if he'd mind terribly if I were to make him a pawn in my new game." _

"Sakura, wake up!" Ino moved her hand from one side to another in front of Sakura's face. "Why are you looking at him like that? You're not-" Ino gasped "falling for him are you?" Ino's smile became a devious grin and Sakura knew that she had to come up with a quick excuse for her momentary lapse from reality.

"Don't even joke like that Ino-pig!" Sakura's eyes went blank and she raised a scolding finger to Ino. "I'm just amazed at how much he looks like Sasuke. It's almost a shame how much of a jerk he is." Sakura relaxed in her seat, confident that she had convinced Ino that she had no interest in the shinobi artist. Sakura almost regretted scaring Ino off of the subject the way she did, but a friendly squabble over whether or not she was falling for Sai was a welcoming change from Ino's declaration of her husband's greatness speech.

"You might not want to talk so loud." Ino cautioned. "He's coming this way."

Sure enough, Sai was walking towards them. Sakura slid her hand down her face in disbelief and brought it to the table. She didn't hate him, but he was one of the last people that she wanted to talk to that day. Ino kept smiling at him, though his eyes were clearly focused on Sakura. Sakura's eyes remained glued to her plate to avoid contact with his own. Strangely, with only a few more steps to go, Sai suddenly clutched his stomach with one hand and put the other over his mouth. His face flushed furiously crimson, and his cheeks puffed out to twice their normal size. He made kind of a gurgling noise and ran into the restroom.

Ino's jaw dropped. "What the heck was that?"

Sakura was also shocked. Shocked, yet relieved. "We're not sure yet. All we know is that he's been having a problem with keeping food down for the past few days." Sakura glanced back at the restroom door that Sai had just run through. A few seconds before he turned purple, he really looked almost as handsome as Sasuke and Ino's reaction to seeing him was priceless. The wheels in Sakura head turned rapidly as she finalized her new plan involving Sai.

Ino placed her chopsticks across her plate and pushed it aside, indicating that she was finished eating although she still had about half of her lunch left over on it. If the reason wasn't her fear of weight gain, then it was the image of Sai upchucking in the bathroom that might have had something to do with her loss of appetite. "So you still think he's a jerk." Ino remarked. "But what about Naruto?"

Sakura looked coldly at her friend and shoved her plate of half eaten lunch to one side. The mere mention of Naruto's name wasn't enough to make Sakura lose her appetite, but Ino annoyingly trying to get Sakura to talk about him certainly was.

"Why do I put up with you?" Sakura sighed. Ino responded with an evil smile and Sakura couldn't help but smile back. When their plates were cleared, they ordered more tea because they needed a reason not to leave. They slowly drank their tea, talking up a storm and enjoying each other's company. Sakura was even successful in steering the conversation away from Sasuke every time Ino tried to bring him into it. When they were so full of tea that neither one of them could take another sip without gagging, they knew it was time to leave. It was at that very moment that the restaurant fell completely silent.

All eyes turned to a devastatingly handsome man with blue eyes so pale, they appeared white from far away. He walked in quietly, pacing himself not too fast and not too slow, his extremely long jet-black hair rippling behind him with every step that he took. He walked right past the greeter without saying a word and then planted both feet on the ground once he entered the restaurant's main area. Among the silent whispers of the other occupants, he surveyed the area, mentally shouting, _"What the HELL are all of you looking at?" _His gaze wandered to every table, until he finally located his target.

Ino and Sakura sat still, unable to blink since the first man came into the restaurant. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have cared too much, but the way his gaze had locked onto Ino made them both freeze in place. No one expected the well-known Hyuuga to give a place like that a second thought, let alone walk into it. It was almost like some kind of high-class movie star walking into a fast food restaurant when one would expect him at some place a little ritzier. Not that any of them had ever seen Neji in a ritzy restaurant—or any restaurant at all for that matter.

"Um, excuse me sir." The greeter tapped Neji on his shoulder. "Would you like a table for one?" Neji cranked his head towards the nervous man, then focused back on Ino.

"Yes." He answered calmly, staring even harder at Ino. As soon as Neji sat down, his hypnotic spell over the crowd was lifted off of everyone and they were able to continue what they were doing before he came in. Ino and Sakura were far too entranced to do the same. Ino had to force herself to look away in order talk to Sakura.

"Why is he looking at me like that?" Ino shifted uncomfortably, finding herself drawn back to the Hyuuga's haunting eyes. Unlike a typical shinobi spy, he was being very obvious with his actions. This must have meant that he wanted Ino to know that he was eyeing her. Neji picked up his menu and ordered, barely taking his eyes off of Ino to see what they actually served.

"I think we need to order another pot of tea." Sakura suggested. Ino head quickly bobbed up and down in agreement. Neither one of them noticed the waiter bring the pot to them, nor did Neji pay any attention to the food was brought to him. Some invisible force held all six eyes together. Four of them locked dead onto each other. The waiters, not knowing what was going to happen, wisely watched from a safe distance. For them, hard stares from three skilled warriors were never a good thing.

* * *

Until the next half of the filler! By the way, thanks for all of the suggestions (those of you who e-mailed me too!) I'm going to use them ALL! Keep 'em coming! 


	7. Filler part 2

**Dear Cherry Blossom A.K.A. Sweet Serenity**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. But for those of you who think I do, let's meet up at my place and we'll all fly over to Japan and see if anyone else there thinks so too. Okay bye! (Runs off to buy plane tickets)

* * *

Filler part 2 

"Naruto. Why did you do it?" The voice did not raise, but it was easy to tell the speaker's mood by the tone. "Why did you change into me?" Sasuke looked annoyed and edgy. Naruto shook off Sasuke's cold stare, not really worrying about the consequences of his actions, and prepared his hands. He lifted them to his chin level and clasped them together forming the necessary hand signs to change back. A few seconds later, in a puff of smoke Naruto appeared in his normal form in front of Sasuke. "Why did you call her?" Sasuke continued. Naruto looked at his friend, who was waiting for an answer, and simply shrugged making Sasuke even more annoyed.

They stood in silence, waiting for each other to say the next word, Naruto not sure how to explain why he did what he did. The words _"because you're a stubborn little prick with a giant stick up your ass"_ desperately wanted to escape from Naruto's lips, but he swallowed them back. The last thing he needed was for Sasuke to have a reason to fight with him regardless of his bad foot.

Knowing that Sasuke would continue to be an ass if he didn't come up with a good reason for changing into him and calling his wife, he rolled his eyes and filled his lungs with enough air to explain in one breath. "I needed to imitate your voice. Besides, you said I could call her if I wanted to." Sasuke clearly wasn't satisfied with this answer, so Naruto came up with another. "You looked like you weren't going to do it but it needed to be done, so I helped you out a little." Naruto stepped a little closer to Sasuke put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You're my friend and teammate. I'm here for you and-" Naruto abruptly stopped when Sasuke yanked his shoulder from underneath Naruto's hand.

Sasuke pressed his lips together, not sure as to whether he should be angry or thankful. While it was good that Naruto was concerned for him and Ino, he still needed to mind his own business. Sasuke was always uncomfortable when the subject of his rough marriage came up and with the tabloids constantly reminding him that everyone knew about his problems, there was no escape. His one wish for the moment was for everyone to just butt out and leave him alone.

"I'm sorry for blurting out what happened between you and Ino during the mission." Naruto said. "I may be the last person that you want to talk to right now, but if you ever want to talk about it, you can trust me." There was an unmistakable sincerity in Naruto voice and Sasuke did have enough confidence in Naruto to trust him. Telling everyone about him and Ino really wasn't a big deal. Married people have sex…it's no big secret. If anything, Naruto's big mouth helped make everyone believe that he and Ino were doing better.

Sasuke watched as Naruto yawn and stretch his arms up high above his head before bringing them back down to his sides. This was Naruto's way of hinting that he had all the time in the world to sit back and listen. He was definitely not the best person to confide in, but at times it was good to have someone to talk to, even if it was someone as dim-witted as Naruto.

It was rare for the ninja to have enough time to engage in casual conversation and the conditions couldn't have been better. Although lunchtime wasn't over yet, there weren't many people lingering in the streets; more than likely because lunchtime was way too short and the people of Konoha didn't want to use up the little time they had wandering aimlessly around the streets. Whatever the reason, this was a blessing for Sasuke because they would have no interruption from crazed fangirls or nosey people trying to eavesdrop on them.

"Five minutes." Sasuke growled. "We can talk for five minutes then you have to get lost, loser." Naruto decided to disregard Sasuke's last word because he knew that Sasuke was trying to cover up his pain. Naruto was positive that Sasuke needed some guidance and wanted to talk but, being Sasuke, he had to be a dick. Sasuke spotted a bench that was somewhat out of public view and slowly went over it. Naruto shook his head- a little surprised that Sasuke was willing to engage in a personal conversation with _him_ when there others far more capable of handling that kind of stuff- and watched one of Konoha's top ninja stumble over tiny rocks before finally reaching the bench and sitting down.

Naruto followed behind and made himself comfortable on the hard wooden bench next to Sasuke, hoping wholeheartedly that he'd be able help out his distressed friend. He turned his head in order to make eye contact with Sasuke and placed one of his arms across the back of the bench, relaxing his body despite Sasuke's murderous glares. He was unquestionably angry, but Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke was angry with him for calling his wife, or the fight he had with her the night before. Naruto guessed it was the latter.

"Tell me what happened." Naruto said in a soft, caring voice.

Sasuke rested his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together and bringing them under his chin. He didn't look directly at Naruto, instead opting to stare off into the distance. "I don't know," he said in a heavy breath of air. "We argued for a few hours but I don't remember exactly what she was saying. I must have blocked out about half of the conversation. In fact, I never really made sense of why we were arguing to begin with."

Sasuke had to stop and think of a way to describe what happened next. How was he going to explain the way he came onto Ino but was harshly rejected? His male ego as on the line and he had to be careful with the details. At the same time he needed to leave out the bad choice of words that earned him a wrack in the head. Even though it would be embarrassing, the only way for Naruto to have a clear picture of what happened was to just to go ahead and tell him everything that happened. "For a moment it seemed like we were about to reconcile, but then…what the hell is so damn funny?" Sasuke was getting that uncomfortable feeling again. Naruto sensed Sasuke's uneasiness and started to chuckle, making Sasuke even more annoyed than ever.

"Don't bother trying to explain what happened next. I think I already know." Naruto's words were muffled by his laughter, but Sasuke could still understand what he was saying. "You said something stupid didn't you?"

Naruto's question hit Sasuke hard. How did he figure that out? This made Sasuke remember the day before when Naruto blamed him for the problems in his marriage. Ah! THAT'S what it was. Naruto didn't figure anything out. He was just _assuming_ Sasuke had ruined everything.

Damn it!

He should of known better than to trust Naruto with his private life. He needed to find some way out of this mess before Naruto dug up yet another reason say that his failing marriage was entirely his fault and not Ino's. "If you're going to sit there laughing at my problems and wasting my time, then I'm leaving."

"Calm down." Naruto quit laughing and held up his hand to keep Sasuke from standing up. "I'm not going to say how you were acting like an insensitive jerk and explain how everything was all your fault. I'm also not going to say you're a total moron and you need to swallow your pride and apologize."

Sasuke cocked his eyebrow and bit down hard on his lip. That was a hidden crack at him wasn't it? Naruto certainly is the sly one. "Then will you stop wasting time and get to the point?" Sasuke demanded coldly.

"_Right. Why sit here and waste your time talking to me when you could just as easily be sitting at home and waste your time doing nothing?"_ Naruto thought sarcastically. He noticed Sasuke clenching his fists and becoming more impatient. It was time to stop fooling around and get to the point.

"This is what I think happened." Naruto explained. "While she yelled at you, all you did was sit back and pretend to listen." Naruto tried to reestablish eye contact with Sasuke but all he was able to see was Sasuke's profile since his head was turned. Sasuke must have been hiding his true feelings again, but it didn't matter. Under Sasuke's bad-ass exterior there was an almost insecure little soul who had spent so much of his young life being a loner, obsessive, and bitter (emo) that he never really learned how to properly handle the intimate situations that involved women. Naruto was pretty sure that he could help him by offering his expertise. "You paid more attention to her body than you did her mouth, didn't you?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows a little higher in response to Naruto's words. This was the green light for Naruto to keep going. "You kept noticing the way her eyes got all blood shot, the way her body trembled, and the little vein that popped out of her forehead." Sasuke leaned his back against the bench, intrigued though trying to hide it. Naruto was ecstatic to see that he was getting through to Sasuke without getting lashed at. "Soon you lost all control, and you found some way to satisfy your feelings and shut her up at the same time. Did she hit you?"

That question took Sasuke by surprise. Although he knew that Naruto wasn't stupid, Naruto was still a lot smarter than Sasuke had imagined. But he didn't understand what made that idea suddenly jump into Naruto's head. He shifted uncomfortably on the bench when his mind traveled back to the night before when he tried to have his way with Ino on the kitchen table.

He remembered how her body was hot with anger and frustration while his body was hot with something else. He blinked, biting down on his thumb and imagining how good she tasted when he licked her skin…how he wanted to get her naked and use his hands and tongue to explore every inch of Ino's body…how the way her hand brushed his hard-on as she squirmed from underneath made him want to take her right there in the kitchen. And then in a flash it was over. Sasuke's body tensed a little, and Naruto nearly did a double take when he saw Sasuke's skin turn a faint shade of blush pink.

"I'll take that as a yes." Naruto said all of a sudden, breaking Sasuke out of his brief lapse from reality.

"Where are you going with this?" Sasuke asked irately, accidentally dropping one of his crutches on the ground. It fell in a patch of dirt and kicked up a small cloud when it hit.

"Don't you get it? Fights between some men and women don't always end in a compromise. Reason being? Women tend to feel the female form of angry…violent. Men tend to feel the male form of angry…horny. Which coincidently is the male's form of sleepy, hungry, happy, bashful…but I digress. Women tend to hit things and throw fits while men just sit still, half smirking at the way certain areas of her body bounced every time she moved." Naruto waited to see if Sasuke was going to make any effort to pick the crutch back up but he didn't move.

In the short but awkward silence that followed, Sasuke gave Naruto a look so strange that Naruto had no clue what he was thinking. So much for being smarter than he imagined. Of all the dumb things that came out of a Naruto's mouth before, this had to be the dumbest. "Do you expect me to believe that all men and women are like that?" Sasuke finally asked. He turned his attention to his crutch, now covered in a thin layer of dust, but let it lay were it landed, not seeming to care much about it.

"Not all of them." Naruto bent down and picked the crutch back up. He held it across his lap and dusted the dirt off of it with his hand. Sasuke didn't give Naruto a second glance.

Naruto observed Sasuke drifting even deeper in thought. Something he said must have touched a nerve and was causing some confusion for Sasuke. Naruto stretched out his arm and offered the crutch back to Sasuke, but he refused it. "You know," Naruto began, "it's both physically and mentally hard being a ninja. We experience more stuff in one day than most people experience in a lifetime. Is it any wonder our emotions go haywire?" He leaned the crutch against the bench but Sasuke still wouldn't take it.

"Are you trying to say that I'm emotionally unstable?" Sasuke huffed.

The answer to Sasuke's question came quickly into Naruto's head. _"YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! Do you need me to spell it out for you?! Should I paint it on your forehead?! Why don't I just brand it on your ass?!" _Naruto's blue eyes locked with Sasuke's. "Not at all. You're a male and Ino's a beautiful female. Do you intentionally make her angry because that's when you think she's at her sexiest?"

Sasuke took in what Naruto was saying. It was kind of making sense and he had to think about it for a few seconds. What was it about Ino that sometimes made her extra sexy when she was angry? Was it the bulging red eyes? The carnivorous fangs that sprouted from her gums within seconds like mushrooms? Or was it the heavy breaths she took in between sentences that thrust her breasts forward?

Sasuke quickly snapped out of it, refusing to be dragged any further into the strange world of Uzumaki Naruto. "Do you ever listen to yourself talk? What makes you such an expert on women?" Sasuke glanced up from whatever it was he was looking at, examining that stupid grin spreading across Naruto's face.

"Experience." Naruto said confidently. "Do you know how many times I've been beat up by Sakura, yet I keep coming back? Face it…we're both in love."

"You're an idiot." Sasuke answered sternly.

Wow. That was unexpected. "Okay let's try something else…" Just then an odd sound approached as if Naruto's last sentence was a cue for something to happen. It was not far from where they were sitting and Naruto whipped his head in the direction it was coming from. He noticed a large wagon being pushed by a vender who was selling trinkets on a street corner. A piercing spot of light shined from the middle of the wagon, making it an instant attention grabber. An idea immediately came to Naruto. "Maybe you should get her a gift. Check out that blue charm thing over there." Naruto pointed to a small jewel that sparkled as it reflected the sun's light.

"I've heard enough." Sasuke carefully stood up and maneuvered his crutches to balance himself. Naruto momentarily looked down at his feet, willing himself to not pick up a rock throw it at Sasuke's head. Instead, he shook his head in disappointment at his friend's stubbornness. He was about to get up when Sasuke stopped walking and turned back to Naruto. "Do you think she'll like it?"

Hearing this made Naruto perk up. "I think she will." Naruto gleefully walked over to the vender and waited for Sasuke to catch up. Sasuke rummaged through some of the items on the cart, pretending to be interested in some of the gaudy looking jewelry that were on display inside little velvet boxes with the lids wide open. Although he already knew what he wanted, this was both a great time killer and a good reason not to talk to his knucklehead friend.

"How about this one?" The vender pointed to the same blue charm that Naruto had chosen earlier. "It's very rare and very symbolic. Give this to your wife, and she'll forgive you right away. "

Sasuke narrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. Was there ANYONE in Konoha that didn't know about his marriage? "What makes you think my wife has to forgive me for something?" Sasuke's voice was pensive, but beneath it the vender heard a deep pulsing rage.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, right?" The vender held up his hands as if to be shielding himself against a possible blow from the visibly angry Uchiha. "I read about the big fight you had with your wife in the paper this morning."

Sasuke's eyes grew wide and he glared at Naruto who was grinning with a look of uncertainty on his face. "Heh heh…news does travel fast, doesn't it?" Naruto took a deep breath and put his hands behind his head.

Sasuke fought back the growing urge to commit a double homicide and looked at the vender. "For YOUR information," Sasuke raised his crutch and pointed the flat end at the vender's chest, "My wife and I are doing FINE and there are NO hard feelings between us…why am I even explaining this to YOU?! It's none of your business!" Sasuke lowered the end of his crutch when he noticed the vender jump back in fear. Sasuke turned to Naruto for back up, but all he got was another stupid grin. "What the hell are you smiling at?!"

"It's something how you get all defensive when someone talks about you and Ino." Naruto answered.

Sasuke scowled at him. "Who asked you?!"

"You did." Naruto answered calmly with his hands behind his back and an innocent expression on his face.

Sasuke harshly pushed the narrow end of him crutch into the ground and sighed deeply. His latest argument with Ino was already on the front page of the Konoha news and he'll soon be hounded with an endless interrogation from intrusive neighbors and comrades. Not wanting to let this get to him, Sasuke picked up a box, inspected it, but then slammed it back down in his anger. "Show me what you have." He said through clenched teeth. The vender, making sure that Naruto was within arms length, did what he was told.

Sasuke followed the vender around the cart, blocking out his phony sales pitches of how certain stones came from far off lands and once belonged to royalty or how some of the others can only be found deep within the bowels of and active volcano and can retrieved once every five years under the twentieth blue moon that occurs every four months and…some other astrological crap.

Naruto seemed to be eating up every word the man was saying. He walked slowly around the cart, asking a few questions and answering back with an occasional "that's pretty cool", although whenever the vender's back was turned Naruto gestured to Sasuke by swirling his finger in a circular motion at the side of his head.

Some of the jewelry was valuable and some were not. The blue charm was more valuable because it was locked in a casing of thick plastic. Sasuke liked this particular charm because it reminded him of something that happened a year ago. The corners of his mouth curved into a small smirk when he thought of how perfect Ino would have looked that night if he had this charm back then. But then he frowned when he remembered what happened in the days that followed.

When he heard enough of the vender's mindless drivel, Sasuke pointed to the blue charm inside the case and told the vender that he had made up his mind. After listening to how this particular stone was found on the bottom of the ocean floor deep within a sunken luxury ocean liner, (A/N: Now where did he get that story from?) he took out a key and stuck it into the lock that held the case shut. He pulled it out of the case and raised it over Sasuke, letting it dangle from the gold chain that it was suspended from. Sasuke was in aw at the way it cast a blue reflection against his skin when the light hit it and a rush of excitement swept through him. There was no way that Ino wouldn't love this.

Naruto stood back and crossed his arms with pride as he witnessed Sasuke buy Ino's gift. In less than the time it took to make a cup of ramen, he was actually making progress with the moron. Ino was going to be happy, but something told Naruto that Sasuke might find some way to screw things up again. There needed to be a back up plan to provide some reassurance that they wouldn't fight at least for the next few days.

"Wait a minute." Naruto began. "Gifts are okay, but what about doing something more from the heart?" Naruto stuck his finger in the air signaling that he had a suggestion. "I know, you should write her a poem or something."

"Hell no!" Sasuke snapped. "By the way, your five minutes are up." He shoved the charm box into his pocket and shifted his body and crutches towards the opposite direction.

"Sheesh! It was only a suggestion! Stop being so crabby!" Naruto noticed the vender trembling and made an effort to comfort him. "Don't mind him." Naruto whispered. "He's still ticked off because he can't do much with a broken leg and needs a little more time to get use to the crutches."

"I heard that!" Sasuke yelled. "I am NOT an invalid!" Sasuke's once irritated demeanor had spiked to full blown rage at that instant. How dare they say that his broken leg hindered him from doing things for himself. Okay, they didn't say those exact words, but that's certainly what they were insinuating. "I don't need these damn crutches!" Sasuke said crossly to himself. Naruto didn't know if Sasuke was just upset or trying to convince himself because didn't let his crutches go.

Upon witnessing the scene the vender scratched his head. "He really needs a vacation." The man had never before seen such a display of uncontrollable emotions and stood even closer to Naruto for protection.

Naruto glanced at the vender and then back to Sasuke. "A vacation to clear the mind? That's a great idea!"

The vender nodded in agreement. "A good vacation is just what he needs to give his mind a chance to rest and help him get his emotions together."

"I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE!!!" Sasuke's voice echoed throughout Konoha. He grunted in exasperation and left Naruto at the vender's.

He was about fifteen feet away when he realized that now he was back to having nothing to do. Hobbling quite some distance away from Naruto, he spent the next few minutes trying to figure out some form of entertainment for the rest of the day.

Sparring was out of the question. Not only because of his bad leg, but also because the other Jounin were no doubt training their Genin since the Chunnin exams weren't far away. He would have gone to the training grounds anyway, but he was almost positive that his lazy Genin had slept in and were just getting out of bed even though it was past lunchtime. They'd better enjoy these next few days. They were going to be penalized for their poor performance during the Special Mission. After considering a few more options and eliminating them one by one, Sasuke figured he had no choice but to hobble home and wait for Ino.

Once he was certain that he was well out Naruto and the vender's sight, he slowed his pace and took his time getting home. His journey home needed to be longer than usual. With the mixture of emotions swirling through Sasuke's head it was difficult for him to focus on where he was heading and he needed a chance to calm down and sort out his thoughts. Dwelling on what had just happened wasn't helping him feel any better and his mind eventually went from completely confused to numb.

He felt guilty for the way he treated Naruto, but not guilty enough to go back and apologize. That's when it dawned on him that having someone to confide in did in fact help him get some of his problems off of his chest. But something still plagued him. He wanted to stop fighting with Ino, yet he intentionally fueled her anger the night before. While Naruto was to some extent right about it being a turn on that night, another reason was because he wanted to put her back in her place. The only way he could to that was to dominate her just when she felt she was the one in control.

"_We're both in love." _Naruto's words repeated in Sasuke's head. Sasuke always felt that loving someone and being in love with someone were two different things. For him, love was a feeling shared with family and friends that served as a motivation to care for their well-being. Being in love was a feeling that was shared with only one person; making that one person- that one special person- the thing he couldn't imagine living without. Someone he'd easily give his life for. His weakness.

But he hated weakness.

While he was still a teenager the thought of being in love never crossed his mind. As far as he was concerned, being in love was a distraction that made people weak. He never took into consideration the prospect of falling in love with someone when he was in the process of choosing a wife. Maybe it was because he didn't let himself dwell on something that wasn't very important to him. Now that he was married, he had to think about it.

He loved Ino, but was he IN love with her? According to Naruto, he was. If Ino was in fact his weakness, then he couldn't say that he hated all forms of weakness because he didn't hate her. She was special to him, but he wasn't sure just how special. On top of that, he had a dirty secret-he almost hated himself for it- that he kept to himself and would never admit to anyone EVER. Even though he loved and cared for her, he wouldn't give his life for her. It was an awful thing to admit especially since she was his wife, but he was the last hope for the Uchiha clan. After him there would be no more. It was wrong yet it was valid…right? Why was this so confusing and hard for him to understand?

Then there was the question of their arguing. Now that he thought about it, a lot of their arguments did end with her giving in and apologizing. If the apology wasn't enough for him, she'd give him make up sex. If not right after, then about a week later. The sex was important to him. Why? He knew why. Alas, this was no way build a successful marriage. He came to a decision. As soon as Ino came home, he'll talk with her. But this time there will be no coming onto her and no allowing his ego to keep him from apologizing first. He was going to figure out once and for all if he was indeed truly in love with Ino. If he were, then he'd work for them, starting with altering his views on weakness. From that day forward, things were going to change.

He was about to turn down the road that would lead to the Uchiha district when an idea popped into his head. In all of his gibberish, Naruto mentioned something about giving Ino a gift that came from the heart. The idea of writing a poem was certainly not what Sasuke had in mind, but Naruto may have a point about this whole doing something more from the heart thing. At that moment, he thought of a way to do what Naruto had advised and entertain himself for a little while longer. Perhaps he should make an extra trip to visit his father-in-law at the flower shop. Hopefully a certain smart mouthed client would be there as well. He assured Ino that he'd take care of everything and a good Uchiha always kept his word.

Naruto remained in place as he watched as Sasuke slowly disappear from sight. He didn't bother to catch up with him because Sasuke looked pretty pissed after finding out his personal life was made public and needed some time alone. Life's got to be hard for him. Going through a troubled marriage, having to deal with his criminally insane brother, spending months training a squad of elite Genin only to have one of them almost die and the others prove to be cowards; that would be rough for anyone. To top it off, it was obvious that Sasuke had warped views on being in love. It will take some time, but Naruto will be the one to help him straighten himself out. Sasuke had a load of problems to work out and was in desperate need of some direction. Fortunately for Sasuke, he had a best friend who will always be there if he needed him.

"Excuse me." The vender tapped on Naruto's shoulder. "Perhaps you have a special lady that you would like to buy something for?" He motioned his hand to towards the other jewelry inside the plastic case.

Naruto turned back to him and beamed from ear to ear. Maybe Sakura would like something too.

* * *

The great stare-off between Sakura, Neji, and Ino had lasted about ten minutes before Neji finally looked away and dropped his eyes to his plate. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating, acting as if nothing had happened. Both the kunoichi breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed after getting lost in the maze of Neji's mind game. Ino grabbed the teapot and refilled her and Sakura's cups, grumbling impatiently at the fact that she; Ino of the Yamanaka clan, the masters of mind and body control, had allowed herself to be taken in by Neji. The ordeal was over, but they both still wanted to know what Neji was doing in the first place. 

"That was weird." Sakura whispered, almost to herself. Ino was still too upset and bewildered to listen to what Sakura was saying. Ino's body shook with puzzlement. Her much needed lunch break with her best friend had been ruined without a logical explanation, and Neji was only opening his mouth to shove food in it rather than talk. She gave a disgruntled groan before turning her attention to her friend sitting across the table. Sakura, sensing Ino's tension resurfacing offered a suggestion. "Don't you think you should go talk to him?"

"No." Ino replied. "I'm sure it was nothing." That was a useless lie that Ino didn't have to tell. It was evident she was just as curious about Neji's actions and Sakura couldn't figure out why Ino was pretending that it wasn't a big deal. They gave Neji another glance, though this time wary of getting trapped in his mesmerizing stare once more. Apparently Neji was looking at them again because he quickly looked away when he noticed them.

Neji kept doing this abnormal activity, making the kunoichi more and more baffled each time. His actions made it clear that he came into the restaurant and specifically targeted Ino but for some reason he was putting off talking to her. Sakura tried to read Neji and Ino's body language for clues. There had to have been something going on between the two that she wasn't aware of. When she didn't find any answers, Sakura reluctantly stopped worrying about it. Why go through the trouble of racking her brain trying to figure out what was going on? He had to explain himself eventually.

But the suspense was too much! She didn't want to wait for him. Since Neji wasn't done with his food yet, Sakura decided do some investigating by striking up another conversation with Ino. Even though they were best friends and usually told each other things that they could never tell anyone else, there were still a lot of things that Ino kept from Sakura. With any luck if she prodded a little deeper into Ino's past with Neji, she would be able to figure out for herself what was going on.

Sakura picked up her teacup and held it with both hands in front of her. She then brought it down on the table hard enough to make a noise that subtly got Ino's attention. "From what I remember, the last time he looked at you like that was when you two were dating. Sakura held her cup in front of her mouth and grinned behind it. "I always thought you and Neji made a nice couple."

"That was years ago. Why are you bringing that up now?" Ino asked, giving Sakura a strange look. Sakura had to think of a good response for saying something so odd to a woman married to someone else.

Sakura half-smirked, wishing that Ino would stop looking at her like that. "I'm not saying that Neji is the one you should be with. I guess a part of me is still amazed that you two didn't end up together." She tilted her head to the side and allowed Ino to see her smirk grow into a full-blown smile.

Ino wrinkled her nose at Sakura's statement. "From what _I_ remember, you thought the same about me and Shikamaru. You and Chouji annoyed me to no end with your flawed attempts at setting us up together." Ino didn't cover up the disdain in her voice. The thought of her and Shikamaru as a couple never did set right with her.

The conversation was going in the wrong direction much to Sakura's dismay. Nonetheless, it was best go along with it. One should never be too obvious with ones true intentions especially when one's trying to pry into someone else's personal life. But on the bright side, conversations like this were good for getting even more juicy information than originally intended.

"Why didn't you ever date Shikamaru anyway? Or even Chouji for that matter?" Sakura asked for lack of a more interesting topic to start off with.

Ino scoffed at Sakura's question. Sakura was bringing this up because Ino had once admitted that she wished she didn't treat Chouji so badly because of his weight. She once went as far as to let it slip that Chouji may have had a fraction of a chance had she known then what she knows now. But, like everyone else, she had to grow up and mature. Plus, Chouji wasn't exactly her type.

"Both Shikamaru and Chouji are too much like brothers and I've always thought dating a teammate would be too awkward. I mean we basically grew up together." Ino explained. "Besides, Shikamaru's mother was too busy playing matchmaker and trying to set him up with a new girl every month." Damn, this information wasn't juicy enough.

"Dating a teammate is not _that_ awkward." Sakura nearly choked when she realized what she had said. She bit down on her lip, completely aware that in her hasty need to get information out of Ino, she had inadvertently given Ino ammo to retort back at her.

"Are you referring to you and Naruto?" As anticipated, Ino wasted no time in throwing Sakura's relationship with Naruto into the conversation.

"Must I explain this to you again?" Sakura replied angrily, trying to avoid the ensuing taunts about her and Naruto that Ino was good for doing. She squeezed her teacup hard as a result of her growing irritation. Ino pried the cup away from Sakura before she could shatter it with her bare hands. Sakura calmed herself when she saw that Ino was getting the message to ease up on the joking. She hated when Ino used Naruto to make fun of her. "Naruto and I never really went out. We're just good friends."

"Really…"

Neji tried his hardest to listen to what the two were talking about but he was sitting too far away and the restaurant noise kept him from hearing everything. Too bad his ears were not as gifted as his eyes; supersonic hearing would be a wonderful addition to his byakugan. From the few words he did pick up he could tell that they were no longer talking about what had just occurred.

"_Typical female chatter,"_ he thought to himself. _"Always straying off the main subject."_ He gave up trying to listen in on their conversation and unenthusiastically went back to his plate. The taste of the food in front of him was not something he was enjoying. It was only reminding him of why he never ate out more so than quell his hunger.

"Will you stop implying that Naruto was ever my boyfriend?" Sakura spat out.

"Only if you stop saying that I should have dated Shikamaru or Chouji." Ino answered back.

"Fine." Sakura crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. She didn't want to cause any more trouble between them, but she wasn't through picking Ino's brain yet. "You are Neji were still a nice couple."

Ino sighed in defeat. "There's a reason why you keep talking about me and Neji. What do you want to know?"

At last! Now it was time to find out the real good stuff. Sakura sat up straight and leaned over the table in order to bring her head closer to Ino. "Since you insist that I ask …" Sakura smiled deviously and placed both of her hands on the surface. "I remember you were always saying how you were SO in love with him. Every single day you bragged about how wonderful he was and that he was the best boyfriend you've ever dated… I also remember an incident between you two."

Ino's skin immediately turned two shades redder she felt herself get hot. Sakura observed the change in Ino's facial expression, not sure how she was going to react. "PLEASE let's not get into that." Ino begged, sinking deeper in her seat when Sakura refused to stop giving her that smug look.

"Too late I'm interested." Sakura watched as Ino nervously fiddled with the end of her ponytail. This _had_ to have been good if it got Ino all flustered. She raised one of her hands and rested her chin on her knuckle. Since Ino was refusing to talk, Sakura cleverly formulated a plan to use her knowledge of Ino, and her arrogant need to prove herself, against her. All she had to do was say something to make Ino feel there was something she couldn't do. Then Ino, being as proud and cocky as she was, will spill everything to prove that she never failed at anything. "I think it's funny that you couldn't tame him."

That did it. Ino let go of her hair and shot her head up. Her eyes bulged and her hands balled into fists. "You're just jealous because I know more about how to tame a man than you do!"

"What did you say?!" Sakura's reaction was similar to Ino's. Her plan was backfiring.

"Admit it" Ino closed her eye's and sneered in her usual boastful manner. "I dated before you, I had a steady boyfriend before you, and got my first kiss before you." Ino had turned the tables on Sakura. She slightly opened her eyes and peered at her fidgety friend across the table. Now she was going to have some fun with her. "It sucks that I was your first kiss, doesn't it?"

Sakura's jaw dropped. "You were not!" she argued, snatching her teacup back from Ino like a spoiled child and gulping down the little bit of tea she had left at the bottom.

"Oh yeah." Ino responded in a stuck-up tone, signifying that she was about to say something to further annoy Sakura. "I forgot that Naruto got to you before I did. Although, I don't know how he managed to do it with that huge forehead of yours getting in the way." This time Ino was the one grinning slyly. She did it again!

"You're trying to avoid the subject, Ino-pig!" Sakura was now feeling even angrier than earlier. She managed to compose herself enough to sort out the mixture of insults that she wanted throw in Ino's direction. Getting information was going to be tough, but Sakura was more than willing to take on the challenge. First, she had to turn the tables back in the other direction. "I remember how you came running up to me saying how you were ready to loose your virginity to him. It's been years and yet I still don't know what happened between you two."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ino's voice was hesitant, indicating that she was lying. Sakura was too smart to buy into this and she was going to make sure Ino didn't find some way to weasel out of the discussion.

"You may as well tell me now. I'll just keep bugging you if you don't." Sakura noticed how Ino was avoiding eye contact with her as well as sneaking a glance at Neji every now and then. This must be good!

"I hate you." Ino finally said, knowing that Sakura would indeed bother her until she came clean about what had happened between her and Neji. "All right, fine. I think I'll start the day before we first started dating…"

(A/N: I sense a flashback!)

It all started a few weeks before Sasuke's return to Konoha. Days had passed since any of the shinobi were able to get together and act like everyday teenagers and five of the top Chunnin and a Jounin were taking full advantage of the time they had. It was during a Truth-or-Dare game between Sakura, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji. They were all sitting outside the training grounds-Shikamaru griping something about how childish the game was- and trying to have a little fun after a hard day of training.

"Sakura, truth or dare." Kiba called out to Sakura, the first victim. Sakura instantly got nervous. She had never played the game before and she was afraid of what the others might have her do. Picking truth may be a little safer, unless they asked her what she and Naruto did on one of their "dates"…which was absolutely nothing. (Nothing that anyone would be interested in hearing anyway.) Sakura took what seemed like an eternity to open her mouth to spit out her answer.

"Why do you even bother asking her? You know she'll pick truth!" Ino laughed, cutting Sakura off before she could talk. "She's too shy to do anything bold!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Sakura stared defiantly at Ino. She may be a brave and powerful ninja, but they were right. There where some things that she was still to shy to do. That damn Ino just _had_ point that out. Now was the perfect time to show Ino and the others that she could easily overcome her shyness whenever she wanted to. "I pick DARE…_shit_!"

Kiba snickered a little. He was plotting something conniving and from the looks he exchanged with the other males, Sakura knew that they all had something planned out before the game even started. "Sakura, I dare you toooooooo…kiss Ino on the mouth!"

"You can't be serious!" Sakura yelled. "I bet you horny males had that planned the whole time!"

Ino grimaced. "Yeah, you guys are sick!" they looked at all of their fellow male shinobi, all of who were grinning wildly at the two females. No doubt getting excited at thought of seeing some girl on girl action. "Besides," Ino continued, "you all know that she'll never be able to do anything like that because she's too weak."

There Sakura was, being called weak and shy again. Well, not this time…she'll show them who's weak! A sudden jolt of boldness flashed through Sakura's body and she grabbed Ino by the shoulders and forcefully pulled Ino closer to her. Ino's body froze completely as Sakura kissed her hard right on the mouth. Though it was only for about three seconds, none of the males could control their erections. Sakura broke off and gasped for air, not believing that she had actually done that. Ino just sat there in shock. Both were embarrassed.

"Oh nice one, Sakura!" Chouji exclaimed raising his balled fist next to his head.

"Girl kissing! Hell yeah!!!!" Sai shouted.

Ino gasped and flailed her arms frantically. "Are you really that much of an idiot, Sai?!" Her voice warned the others to not say anything else, but Sai was audacious.

"No, I just like seeing girls tongue each other." Sai answered haughtily. Ino and Sakura stood up and walked closer to Sai, ready to clobber his ass if he dared to say anything else. He quickly got up and ran behind Chouji.

"And he wonders why he never gets any." Shikamaru sighed. Once all of he excitement died down, Sakura took her turn. Everyone figured that Sakura would do something to get revenge on Sai and looked at her warily. There was a chance that she'd have him do something to make him look stupid like go streaking across the streets of Konoha. Strangely, for some unknown reason, Sakura choose Ino. No one saw that coming.

"Ino, truth or dare?" Sakura asked earning a chorus of relieved exhales from the male members.

This was peculiar. Sakura had the perfect opportunity to exact her revenge on the males, yet she wasn't taking it. This could only mean that Sakura was plotting something special for Ino. Lucky for Ino, she didn't get intimated very easily. "Dare!" Ino shouted assertively, showing that she wasn't afraid of any dare Sakura came up with.

Sakura stood in silence for a minute and then beamed evilly at Ino. She knew Ino would pick dare. "I dare you to do something dangerous." Sakura said with the same amount of evilness as her smile displayed.

"This should be no problem. I only do that like everyday of my life!" Ino crossed her arms and smiled in confidence. What could someone like Sakura possibly come up with?

"I mean REALLY dangerous like… tell Hyuuga Neji that you like him, and ask him out!" Ino exhibited no thoughtful reaction to her dare. In fact, she sighed and shook her head, sinking to the ground and reclining back onto her elbows, throwing her head back. The other's had no idea why she was acting like Sakura's dare was nothing.

"A stupid dare as expected." Ino answered. "I can't ask him out because he's dating that Sand girl or whatever her name is."

"That's just a rumor!" Shikamaru shouted and jumped to his feet a split second after Ino finished her sentence. His sudden outburst took the others by surprise and everyone looked at him suspiciously. This wasn't the first time he blurted out like that when someone implied that Neji and Temari were dating. He turned red and pathetically shoved his hands deep into his pockets, eyes dropping to the ground.

"See?" Sakura said, "now you can ask him out with no problem." This got the reaction from Ino that Sakura was waiting for.

"O-Okay." Ino said quietly, "That's still actually not so bad. All he can do is turn me down, right?" Everyone recalled what happened the last time Ino tried to seduce Neji. A rejection would seriously hurt Ino's pride and they guessed this was the reason Sakura came up with the dare. Little did they know that this was not enough to satisfy Sakura.

"This is where it gets better." Sakura pressed her fingertips together and brought her hands to her nose. "You have to ask him out while he's meditating." Now Ino was clearly afraid and Sakura was enjoying every second of it.

"Are you nuts?!" Ino exclaimed. She shot up with blank eyes and her clenched fist in front of her face. "I can't interrupt his mediation, he'll kill me!"

"You have to do it, or face the consequences." Sakura informed.

"What are they?" Ino asked.

"Hard down tonguing with Chouji for one whole minute." Sai answered. Sakura felt a delight forming at the center of her body from the thought of having the upper hand over Ino. She also glad to have the backing of her obnoxious teammate.

"What's with you and your tongues, Sai-baka?" Ino demanded. The looks that everyone was giving her made her realize that she had to stop stalling and make her choice. She had to take some time out to think to herself. What was the lesser of two evils? Risking her life to ask someone on a date, or making lip contact with her overweight teammate with pork rids on his breath?

"If you don't like that consequence you could always make out with Sakura again." Sai added. The females glared hard at him for a second time.

"Oh shut up, Sai!" Ino took a swing at him, but he managed to duck and avoid her fist. Sakura had better aim with her fist and was able to send him flying into Chouji and the two went crashing to the ground. "Give me another consequence, PLEASE!" Ino pleaded.

"No way!" Sakura insisted. "You have to choose one or the other." Ino kept quiet, trembling where she stood. Sakura was loving this.

"I'll get her to make up her mind" Shikamaru said. He walked over to Ino and placed his hand around her shoulders. "Forget what they said. If you don't ask Neji out while he's meditating, you'll have to walk around for a whole week in second hand clothing."

Ino's eyes grew so wide that they almost consumed half of her face. "Anything but that!" She was begging again, but none of her teammates were changing their minds. Ino sighed to herself. She was out of options. "Okay. I'll ask Neji out. " She slowly started walking towards the place where Neji liked to meditate. She took a few steps but then stopped, looked over her shoulder, and stated fiercely to her best friend, "you'll pay for this, Sakura."

The others followed, not far behind but out of sight. Sai watched Ino walk towards Neji with a look of disbelief on his face. "I can't believe she'd rather die than be seen in second hand clothing."

"Then you don't know Ino very well." Shikamaru answered.

They all followed her to a wide tree with thick full branches in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Sure enough, Neji was there by himself, deep in meditation. He was sitting under the tree, cross-legged with his eyes closed. The tree branches blocked out a wide range of sun, but Neji chose to sit where the shade bordered the sunlight on the ground, keeping his back well shaded, but his front in the sunlight.

Ino leisurely approached, careful not to make too much noise with her feet. Before she could open her mouth to say his name, a shuriken went spiraling from his direction close to her face, nearly clipping off a few strands of her hair. Neji didn't even open his eyes when he threw it. Had she not developed her quick ninja skills, the shuriken might have gotten her right in between the eyebrows. Ino swallowed hard and came even closer.

"Neji? Sorry to bother you, but-" This time about three shuriken went whizzing past her head. Ino quickly hit the ground to avoid them.

"If it's not important, take the hint and go." Neji hissed, not changing his position. He was in the direct light of the sun's rays, giving his skin a faint golden tint. The gentle wind made his extremely long hair sway behind him. He must have finished training not too long ago because he didn't have a shirt on revealing his muscular build. It was impossible to deny that he was sexy. This gave her a little more courage.

"It is important or, it's not that important, but it's kind of." Ino was struggling to formulate a coherent sentence, but her brain would not cooperate. Even the most experienced Jounin knew not to bother Neji while he was meditating. He looked up, and stared at her with those cold pale eyes.

"What is it?" His voice was vicious. He pulled out what appeared to be two more shuriken, held up each one, and placed them around two of his fingers.

Ino looked back at her friends who were beckoning her to continue. "I like you." Ino said rapidly. She placed her arm protectively front her heart, which was wildly thumping in her chest.

"Get lost!" Neji went back to his meditating. Ino exhaled her once shortened breath deeply. She was somewhat hurt by the rejection, but she had completed her mission and survived. She was about to give a thumbs up to her friends, but they were still motioning her to do something else. That's when she remembered that she was supposed to ask him out. "Why are you still here?" Neji asked in an even harsher tone.

Ino gathered the little courage she had left and took a breath. "I want to ask you out on a date." Neji stopped what he was doing and slowly stood up to make eye contact with Ino. Neji's eye's blazed with such wild fire that Ino could almost feel them scorching into her. The four remaining teammates could have sworn that they saw all of the color drain from her face and arms, leaving her skin a ghostly white.

Sakura noticed that Neji was growing increasingly impatient and it was only a matter of moments before he'd do something to her. "I think we should save her." Sakura suggested. They all agreed and rushed to Ino's side. "It was just a game." Sakura informed Neji while attempting to pull Ino out of harms way.

"You disturb me for a game?" Neji's fists clenched hard and he stepped closer to the group of lesser ninja. "Back away from her, she's going to fight me!"

Ino's pounding heart rose into her throat and she gulped it back down. She was still a Chunnin while he was a Jounin. There was no way she could beat him.

"Look, man." Shikamaru said offering his body as shield by standing in front of Sakura and Ino. "She asked you out because we dared her too. There's no need to kill her."

Neji stopped for a second and then took a step back. He looked as though he were thinking about something for a moment before he spoke. "I didn't say 'no'. If she fights me, I'll go out with her."

"Forget it!" Ino spun around and stormed further away.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow." Neji said to Ino's turned back making Ino stop dead in her tracks. "If you're not ready by the time I get there, I'm coming after you. And I promise you won't like what will happen next." Ino's eyes widened and she turned to look at her friends. There was nothing that they could do to help her at this point and Ino had no choice. Sakura was _so_ dead.

The next day, Ino to made sure to be ready well before Neji got there. Earlier, she had no clue how to dress. His obsession with training made Ino positive that he had never been on a real date before, making Ino's decision on what to wear tricky. In all her experience with dating, this one was going to be the most unique and possibly the most difficult. On the one hand, he didn't like doing all that "fancy" stuff like going to a nice restaurant or a movie. On the other hand…there was no other hand. Neji's only idea of fun was meditating.

She heard somewhere that he was dating that blond Sand chick, but whenever the subject came up, Shikamaru would be so adamant about it being a rumor that eventually she believed him. Other than that, she has never heard any other story about Neji having a relationship. One important thing to remember is, if Ino hasn't heard about it, then it obviously hasn't happened.

Based on the type of person that Neji was, they'd more than likely be training, so she didn't put on anything that was too dressy. Her usual training clothes were good enough. She brushed her hair back, gathering and tying it behind her head. Checking her looks in her full-length mirror, she remembered that she was going out with Hyuuga Neji. The one guy who blew her off all those years ago. There was no point paying all of this attention to her looks because he was not going to fall for her outward appearance. It was her skills as a ninja that he'd be more interested in.

There was no sense in spending all of this time on her face and hair if she'd be drenched in sweat before the night was over. Even so, she didn't immediately tear herself away from the mirror. Even when she didn't look her best, she was still hot. She armed herself with her kunai, placing it carefully into it's holster on her leg. After she was done, she looked like her usual self. She was ready.

She didn't have to wait for very long because Neji was right on time. Ino heard him ring the doorbell once, and she became more nervous with each passing second that it took to reach her front door. She wanted to take as much time opening the door as possible, but remembering his threat, she swung the door open. She nearly dropped dead when she saw him standing at the entrance dressed a little more formal than usual.

He stood outside her front door and didn't make an effort to come in. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded staring at her with a look of disgust. "You don't think you're going anywhere with me dressed like that do you?"

Ino's jaw dropped to the floor. She had to think fast. "I'll go change. It will only take a minute!" She hurried back to her room, leaving him outside. Ino tore through her closet, hysterically searching through her large collection of outfits. When she found something suitable she threw it on. She was only able to give herself a quick glimpse in the mirror to make sure her clothes were on straight. Had she kept Neji waiting any longer, he'd be pissed. Within minutes she was back at her front door. Neji was still standing there with his arms crossed.

"You weren't ready."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know-" Neji held up a warning hand to get her quiet. "Let's go." Without saying anything else they left Ino's house into the dark streets of Konoha.

They walked some distance, side by side, with only the sound of their footsteps breaking the silence. Ino was desperate to know what Neji had planned for her, fearing that he'd hold true to his threat of it being something she wouldn't like. There where a million possibilities going through her mind, every last one of them involving some form of violence. A heavy darkness blanketed the streets and nothing in the area looked vaguely familiar to her. She looked around at her surroundings, hoping to find at least another person, but the streets were empty. She was alone with one of Konoha's top Jounin and even worse, she had no clue where she was.

Her throat was blocked as a direct result of her own anxiety, making it hard for her to ask where he was taking her. She was grateful that Neji wasn't saying anything either, because then if she attempted to answer, he would just hear the squeaky sounds that her throat only enabled her to produce. But then she had to ask herself why was she so unnecessarily scared. There was no way he was going to kill her for no reason. He may injure her, but not kill her. This self-reassurance failed to help her feel better. Her stomach tightened anxiously, threatening to release to contents of her last meal at any given moment.

There was no sense in using up energy to run away because he'd most certainly catch her. It's not like she could hide anywhere either. His byakugan would find her in no time. She was stuck. In her nervousness, she reached for the end of her hair and began twirling some of the strands around her fingers. This was a recent habit that she had picked up and was the best way to keep her shaking hands steady.

A faint glimmer of light from a street lamp shined among a thick bunch of tree branches in the distance. Although the area was still unrecognizable, Ino soon realized where Neji had been taking her. The light illuminated the Hyuuga symbol on the gates making them more visible as they got closer. This must have been at the back of the Hyuuga district because Ino had never seen these gates before.

"Why are you bringing me here?" Ino asked when she was finally able to swallow whatever it was clogging her throat.

"I don't want to risk you being seen at the front." He answered. Figures those snooty Hyuugas wouldn't allow very many outsiders into their precious district. Rumor (the gossip column) has it that they were even stricter when it came to marriage. If they're so up tight about non-Hyuugas marrying into the family, then how does the clan still exist? There must be some serious inbreeding going on. (cough)

When they reached the gates, Neji placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her from going any further. A long time had passed before he spoke again. "I was going to take you this place outside of the village. But since you weren't ready, we'll have to do something else." Ino was about to follow him inside the gates, but her step faltered when Neji stopped her again. "Wait here." He disappeared behind the gates, leaving Ino alone in the darkness.

Now was a good time to run; Neji was out of sight and there was no one else around. She backed away from the gates, steadily taking one step at a time, keeping her eyes and ears open to any sudden movements or sounds. But then, for some odd reason she stopped. It was almost as if something had grabbed her by the ankle and was holding her in place. She soon recognized that it was her own inquisitiveness that was keeping her from going anywhere.

She looked up at the sky, cursing under her breath for not choosing to run away now that she had the chance. A part of her wanted to know why Neji decided to go on a date with her. Aside from Sasuke, Neji was the only person who didn't fall for her charms, yet under these strange circumstances he agreed to go out with her. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how the rest of this goes.

Pacing back and forth she waited for Neji, feeling almost like a faithful dog tied to a stake while its master went about his business. A few minutes later he came back out wearing his training clothes. Ino looked at him in curiosity.

"You didn't have to leave me out here!" Ino stood firm and placed her hands on her hips. Screw the fact that he was one of Konoha's great and all-powerful shinobi. He had no right to make _her_ of all people wait outside in the dark while he changed his clothes.

"I warned you." That was all he said before leading her away from the gates. She stayed closely behind, although uneasy about where he was taking her. She had a right to be edgy. He was leading her to the training grounds. They arrived a few minutes later, Neji picking up his pace along the way in order to be a good distance away from Ino. Ino's shoes were not really meant for walking long distances, and her feet soon began to ache, hindering her from catching up with him. This whole ordeal was driving her insane and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Can we take a break?" she abruptly stopped and sank to her knees, " My feet are killing me!"

Neji walked a few steps ahead, but not too far so that she could still hear him. "You owe me a fight."

Was he crazy? She couldn't fight him any other time, let alone now with what she was wearing. Not only that, but she wasn't going to mess up her nice shoes either! He must have gotten the message when he saw the blank look on her face.

He watched the series of worried and confused expressions that appeared on her face and lightly laughed at her. He wasn't really planning on fighting her. He just wanted to see how she'd react if he scared her a little. "Come on. I have a lot to catch up on." He held out his hand to her. She looked at him for a little while, not sure what to do next. He went ahead and grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto her feet before leading her to the same special tree that he mediated under.

Ino wasn't prepared for what happened next. He sat under the tree and closed his eyes allowing himself to drift into meditation. Ino remained standing in front of where he was sitting, looking at him in enragement. The date sucked right from the beginning and Ino was fed up. She was deciphering whether or not to head back home when Neji woke up and called out to her.

"Aren't you going to join me?"

"I really don't know how to meditate." He lifted his head and looked at her awkwardly. Ino immediately knew why. She knew how to meditate. All shinobi knew how to meditate. She could have just flat out said that didn't want to do something so boring on a date.

"You can go if you want. But I wish you'd stay." His voice was different. It was calmer and not as strict and demanding. There was something about that voice that made her want to stay with him, but she wasn't sure if she could trust him completely yet. She cautiously stepped a little closer to him, keeping her guard up the whole time. When he sensed her approaching he placed his hand on the ground next to him. "Sit here. I'll show you." Right then and there, her fears melted out of her body and she joined him.

So for their first date, they meditated for hours. In fact, that was all they did on subsequent dates. Ino didn't like these dates, but she didn't tell Neji. She also didn't turn him down whenever he told her that he'd be picking her up again the next day. All she wanted was to stop. Stop wasting hours meditating, stop being forced to spend her free time with him, and stop watching her step around him in fear of making him upset. That's how things went for the next few days until one day after meditating Neji relaxed against his tree and looked at her.

"Why don't you ever say anything?" he asked. "I know you don't like meditating and I've been waiting for you to suggest something else."

What the hell? Ino wanted to hit him. All this time of living in fear for her life she always had the freedom to say she didn't want to meditate? "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" If it weren't for his fingers sliding and interlocking with hers, in a brief moment of fury, Ino may have slugged him one good time. (Hell hath no fury like a pissed off woman.)

"Relax." He tightened his grip on her hand before releasing her. "It was kind of funny watching you cower in fear every time I told you we were going to meditate," he answered. To Ino's surprise he was actually smiling, which was something she had never seen him do before. "Why would you let someone control you like that? I thought you were supposed to be one of the top kunoichi in the village."

"You IDIOT!" Ino was enraged. She stood up and clenched her fist, apparently regaining her backbone and forgetting who she was talking to. "We're going to fight right now!"

Neji stood up, still smiling at her. "How about we go to this place outside of Konoha instead?" Neji casually strolled away from her. She watched him for a little while, her eye's narrowing in on him flinging his hair over his shoulder. Although she was angry couldn't help but smile. He had taught her a valuable lesson that night and new feelings for him were starting to surface. She followed behind as he led her to the place they would have gone for their first date.

Not long after that, Neji declared her his girlfriend. All their friends were shocked and could never figure out what made him do this. This came as a surprise to Ino as well, but it was a pleasant one. She loved being around him, often finding silly reasons to spend even a few seconds out of the day with him. Now, she didn't have to make excuses. As his girlfriend, she was required to be with him.

Being Neji's girlfriend wasn't so bad. He spent all of his free time on the training grounds; so Ino it was easy for her to find him when she wanted to see him. They still spent half of their dates mediating, but spent the other half doing something more date-like. Amazingly, he was not the shady, cold-hearted, introverted, didn't give a damn about anything but his destiny bastard that a lot of people thought he was. At least not that much.

Every now and then he'd hold her hand in public even while everyone was looking. Every once in a blue moon he'd kiss her on the forehead after a date. He wasn't much for conversation and Ino never had to worry about finding things to talk about. Although sitting quietly for hours in a park was not Ino's idea of a good date. But slowly she got used to him, and was starting to fall in love with him. Though she did not know how he felt about her. Then one day, out of the blue, he told her that she was beautiful. This was all she needed to hear.

That day Ino came to a decision. "I'm ready to lose my virginity!" She excitedly told Sakura, astonishing her best friend.

"Did I just hear you right?" Sakura asked narrowing her eyebrows. "Neji actually agreed to this?"

"Well, no. But I'm sure I can get him."

"Do you honestly think you can get Hyuuga Neji in the sack?"

"Of course I can." Ino was in her typical streak of confidence that often started many fights between her and Sakura when they were younger. "And I'll tell you something else. I can get him before the end of the week."

"Let's make a bet." Sakura paused for a possible objection. When she didn't get one, she continued. "I bet you a dinner that you can't. And I'm not talking a cheap dinner at Ichiraku's."

"Oh yeah. Gotta save something for your dates with Naruto."

Choosing to ignore Ino's comment, Sakura added her last provision of the bet. "I'm talking about that really nice and really expensive restaurant that just opened up.

"Do you know how much that place costs?! A damn appetizer is worth more than we make in half a year!"

"If you're afraid…"

"You're on!" Ino gabbed her hand in Sakura's direction and they shook on it.

Three days later, after spending an hour on the training grounds, Neji was ready to leave. They didn't spend as long this time because Neji was eager to get back home. Today was the day Neji was to show he was a man by moving away from his uncle and into a house by himself. He was going to be spending that night unpacking and Ino volunteered to help him. Neji couldn't believe the amount of enthusiasm she displayed when she told him that she'd be glad to be of assistance, but he was thankful for the helping hand. If only he knew why she was so desperate to help him that night.

The trip back to the Hyuuga district was nice, although for Ino it wasn't fast enough. They walked with their hands clasped together down the path that took them to a small section of land not far from the Hyuuga main house. Neji wasn't sure, but kind of it felt like she was pulling him. By the time they got there, it was already getting dark. Ino figured that it wouldn't take too long to get everything unpacked. He and his family should have done much of the work by now. Unfortunately, it turns out that being a man also meant no help moving in from the rest of the family. There were boxes everywhere.

"Just because you're a girl, that doesn't mean you won't be doing any heavy lifting. You can get started on that box." Neji informed, pointing to a huge box sitting on the ground. "You've had to have learned something from Tsunande-sama." He picked another large box off the ground and proceeded towards the house. Neji wasn't kidding when he said heavy lifting. The boxes were extremely heavy. Thanks to Tsunande's training, she was a little stronger, but after three hours of lifting, her muscles were too sore to continue. She feared that she wouldn't have enough energy for her night with Neji. It seemed like forever before he said, "All we have to do now is bring in one more thing."

"Thank goodness." Ino was kneeling on the floor massaging her tired biceps." Where is it?"

"Over there." Neji pointed to an extremely large object a few feet away. It was a couch.

When it was inside, Ino flopped her exhausted self onto it. Her body ached from head to toe, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She was expecting him to come sit next to her, but to her disappointment, Neji went back outside and began arranging and cleaning the rust (and blood) off of his kunai collection. Tired of waiting for him to finish, she went out and stood next to him.

"Neji-kun, I'm worn out and it's getting dark." She knelt next to him a wrapped her arms around one of his.

"You know the way back." He said slipping his arm out of her grip.

She slid her body behind him and rested her head against the back of his shoulder. "Actually my feet hurt too much to walk now all the way back now. Do you mind if I stay a little longer?"

"Lie down until you're ready then." Neji had finished cleaning the rust off the last of his kunai, but he didn't get up.

"Will you join me?" Ino was trying to sound as seductive as possible. That enticing voice didn't work during the Chunnin exams, but things were different now. After dating all this time, he had to have fallen in love with her by now.

"I'm busy." He said picking up his next kunai and scraping the pointed end with a stone to sharpen it.

This wasn't going right. He was snubbing her off like he did during their first Chunnin exam. She would need a different strategy. Neji wasn't the type to fall for a pretty face and seductive body language; therefore Ino needed to think of another way to get him inside the house. It was pretty simple. In order to get a Hyuuga, she had to think like a Hyuuga.

"Neji-kun, will you help me with my meditating? There's something that I don't quite understand."

Neji stopped what he was doing. "You haven't learned yet?" Ino shook her head and looked at him naively. "Fine. Sit here." He pushed his weapons off his lap and cleared the area for Ino next to him. Only Ino didn't sit in the spot he cleared for her. Instead she crawled into his lap. Neji placed his hands behind him, propping himself up to support the sudden increase in weight, not fully comprehending what was going on. "What are you doing?" Neji's altered his body, trying to slide from underneath her.

"I want feel the amount of chakra that your body releases while you meditate." Ino used her hands to position herself better on his lap, making sure that at least one of them "_accidentally_" grazed the area close to his manhood. Neji cocked an eyebrow. That sounded dumb, but he stopped trying to get her off of him. Neji sighed and told Ino to close her eyes. For the next half hour Neji meditated with Ino in his lap, not knowing that Ino was growing increasingly frustrated. She was going to try one more time.

Ino braced her hands on either side of Neji's knees and push herself off his lap. "I think I should get going." She was now kneeling next to him, waiting for him to kiss her forehead. If she timed everything correctly, she'd be able to grab him. But he didn't move. He just muttered, "Until later." And went back to meditating.

Ino was so mad that she wanted to hit something. What's with this guy? Why was he blowing this perfect opportunity? They were alone, it was dark, and they had the entire house to themselves. What man wouldn't jump at this chance?!

She got to her feet while holding onto his arm, encouraging him to stand up as well. "Will you at least walk with me a few feet?"

He reluctantly allowed her to help him get to his feet. He walked with her couple of steps, and then turned back to the house. Before he could get any closer to the front door, she stopped him by tugging on his arm. She wanted her good-bye kiss. He leaned his face towards her forehead but was stopped when she placed her fingers on his lips. "Please," she pleaded, "not the forehead this time." He heard about this about females. You date one for a little while, and then they want to get all romantic…gross. But then again, he had just declared himself a man. There was no harm in a kiss in a different location. He kissed her on the cheek and went back inside…just as she figured he would. Now for the next phase of her plan.

"Neji-kun?" Ino lightly felt around her forehead as if something were missing. "I need to come back in. I think I left my hitai-ate."

This sparked Neji's curiosity. What was she plotting? She hadn't worn her hitai-ate in years. Before he could say anything, she casually sauntered past him and into the house. Surely he must have realized she rarely wears her forehead protector. That should make him figure out that she wanted an excuse to come back in. She stayed in plain view, hoping that he'd watch her as she pretended to look around the living room for it.

"How about quit playing around and tell me why the hell you came back." Neji said sternly. Ino stopped searching and faced Neji. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking at her in confusion. She didn't answer. She just quickly stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him in the process. This was a daring move to make on the unsuspecting Hyuuga but oddly enough, he was compliant. He gently put his arm around her waist without breaking away from her.

(End Flashback)

"Wait a minute." Sakura interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you, the expert temptress was having trouble getting a guy to fall for you? I knew I was right!"

"Falling for me wasn't the problem." Ino's finger absently circled the brim of her teacup. "It's not like I've had any experience with getting a guy like Hyuuga Neji in the sack."

"True," Sakura nodded in agreement "but what I don't understand is, if you got that far how did you end up losing the bet?"

"We, or rather Neji, kind of ran into a little problem." Ino observed Sakura leaned a little more forward to get closer to her. Sakura's eyes grew wide with burning interest and she didn't want the everyday restaurant noise to cause her to miss a single detail. This put Ino in a sticky situation that involved telling Sakura about her incident without breaking her promise. "Let's just say that Neji's definitely a virgin and completely inexperienced."

"You came on too strong and scared him, didn't you?"

"Let me finish." Ino glanced over at Neji, checking to see if he was still looking at her. She didn't want to chance him hearing her talk about what happened that night, so she got up from where she was sitting and found another place to sit that was closer to Sakura. When she was certain that no one could hear her, she continued to explain the rest of that night carefully without telling Sakura about Neji's secret.

Sakura had no idea what Ino was talking about and Ino wasn't giving her any of the vital details. It seems that this secret between the two was so big that Ino couldn't even tell her best friend. The conversation was still intriguing because Ino was graphically describing the more intimate details that always grabbed a listener's attention.

(Once again. The Flashback.)

Ino dug her fingers into his hair and kissed him even harder. Neji was now beginning to feel uncomfortable and pulled away from her.

"You need to get going." He held his arm out in front of him to keep the persistent kunoichi at arms length from him. "I'll walk with you about halfway."

"I'm not ready to leave yet. Will you please sit with me a little while longer on the couch?" Ino knew she was being very forward, but she had gotten too far to end it here. She pulled hard on his out stretched arm and he nearly fell over by the force of her jerking him to the couch.

"A few more minutes." He growled, and they relaxed next to each other, sinking on the soft cushions. Neji didn't have time to react when Ino climbed on his lap and kissed him again, continuing where they left off. They leaned back against the arm of the couch with Ino on top of him. Neji was meticulous and she knew that she did not have much time to get him aroused enough to keep him wanting more. Little by little she carefully slid her hand from his neck to his stomach. He didn't respond to her roaming hand, so she kept going. Soon her fingers were sliding along the hem of his pants.

She moved the tip of her fingers under his pants, but he enclosed his fingers around her wrist, blocking her from moving any further. She wasn't sure what had just happened, so she tried again only to get the same result. She discreetly felt his manhood with her leg to see if there was a change, but there was nothing. His heart was normal and there was no heat radiating from him. He was not getting excited at all. Neji may not have been a typical male, but he was a still a male. There had to be a way to get him aroused. A few minutes must have passed, because Neji suddenly broke away from her and straightened himself up.

"It's time to go." Neji's eye's fought so hard to not be mesmerized by her that he was forced to close them tight, but his skin was turning red. Ino took this as the first signs of male arousal. Neji ran a hand through his hair to smooth the mussed strands caused by Ino's attack and placed one foot on the floor.

"Please, just a little while longer." Ino slid her hand behind his knee and pulled his leg back on the couch. She was getting aroused and sure as hell wasn't ready to give up yet. She began kissing him down his neck and rubbing her hand up and down his thigh. He knew what she was trying to do and he tried to resist at first, but then she put a hand under his shirt, raising it to expose his navel and circled it with her tongue. He may have wanted her leave earlier, but her tongue was feeling kind of nice. He gave up trying to make her stop as she worked around his abdominal with her mouth. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head relishing in the sensation that flooded his body. He was a male after all.

Her warm breath blew and his skin, sending a pleasurable feeling over the wet region her tongue had touched. From time to time she'd kiss his belly lightly, making him shiver in response. She tasted the salt of his once sweaty skin and licked it off as if she were cat, desperately trying to clean off every area that her considerably small tongue could reach. Normally this would have disgusted her but she was indulging in it, pulling his shirt even farther up to expose his entire chest.

Almost instinctually, Neji's hands moved from behind his head and found their way under her shirt, caressing her back. Ino stuck her tongue right in his navel and twisted it, touching the sensitive spot located inside and triggering his stomach to suck inward. When she was through tormenting his navel, she followed the indentations of his ab muscles to the upper half of his chest. Neji sighed in delight, pressing his fingertips deeper into her skin and inhaling through his clenched teeth. Damn this feels good!

Her hands swirled over his chest moving up to the rise of his shirt. Since it could go no further up she grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. He raised his arms in compliance as she peeled it off and dropped it on the floor. His hands moved from above his head to the back of hers, gently pushing it closer to his, their lips meeting as they settled back into the arm of the couch. Time keeping was now replaced with the desire for heated passion and both were too deep into what they were doing to notice how late it was getting.

Neji, however soon snapped out of whatever hold Ino had on him and was determined to put a stop this. He grabbed her on either side of her waist, forcibly holding her still, and flipped her over so that he was the one on top. He pinned her wrists above her head and looked her dead in her eyes.

"What has gotten into you?"

"You're a man now prove it!" Ino freed one of her wrists and lifted the top part of her body as far as she could and reached behind Neji's head to pull him closer. She stuck her tongue between his lips again requesting entry and he let go of her other wrist. He broke away from her one last time and raised himself up, his knees on either side of her hips in a straddling position, looking down at her. His body looked as though he wanted to stop, but his eyes were saying something totally different. He was breathing heavily and threw his head back to look at the ceiling. It was like he was fighting himself, his hands struggling in a losing battle to not touch her.

In the end, his male urges got the better of him and he lowered himself onto her. The shirt she was wearing was made to expose her midriff, giving him clear access to her navel. His hair completely engulfed the two of them and Ino couldn't see what he was doing, but she could feel it. The combined pleasure of his tongue drawing circles around her navel and his hair lightly brushing her bare stomach caused her to moan, though he didn't hear her because his thick mass of hair covered his ears. Ino used her leg to feel his manhood again. Her knee lightly pressed in between his legs, but he didn't feel any different than he did earlier.

She knew what to look for in Neji, but she never found it. Between she and Sakura skimming threw the pages of the forbidden volumes located in the backs of adult bookstores, camping in the woods during missions with two pubescent males who often woke up stiff the next morning, the training as a Medic-nin that exposed her to some very interesting things, as well as the number of unfortunate male ninja she had to lure into ambushes that always led to their untimely demise, she'd seen enough erections to imagine what one felt like.

She didn't understand. During her life as an older teenager, getting a man excited was never a problem. She had encountered numerous men that could never control themselves when she walked in front of them, wearing her revealing training clothes, swinging her hips, and talking in a voice that turned them into incoherent idiots.

Neji was noticeably shifting himself away from her leg and may have even been deliberately keeping his lower half away from her exploring hand. For some reason he wasn't getting hard although she was ready. She had to take things a step further. She gathered some of his hair in her fists and used it to coax him to move closer to her face by lightly jerking on it. He untangled his hair from her fingers and raised the top half of his body up, propping his hands for support and looking down at her in protest. His eyes virtually jumped out of their sockets at the sight of her delicate fingers unfastening the buttons on her shirt.

She removed her shirt completely and discarded it on the floor next to his. His eyes traveled hungrily over her the half naked female below him. This girl was perfect! She was slender, but she wasn't pencil thin. She was muscular, yet feminine. Her narrow waist gently curved out to her hips, and her breasts were…what the heck was this purple lacy thing she was wearing under her shirt? It was like nothing he had seen before. He couldn't help himself. He had to touch her.

He used his finger to trace an imaginary line around her lips down the middle of her throat to her chest. He then bent down and followed that same path using his tongue. When he got to her chest his tongue licked around one nipple, and then the other, right through the fabric. He brought his head up to hers and planted his lips on her forehead, his thumb and index finger teasing her by sliding along the length of her bra strap.

"Your scent." Neji whispered and buried his head into the base of her neck, his teeth grazing her skin. Ino's heart fluttered in anticipation of what he was going to say next. She was relieved when he instead busied himself with nipping the tip of her earlobe. As far as Ino knew she smelled like sweat. As to be expected from spending hours training and lifting boxes. Oh well. If he wasn't going to say anything else, then she wasn't going to question him.

As one of the top Jounin in all of Konoha, he was amazed at the amount of control she had over him. She was looking exceptionally appetizing and he instantaneously responded to her demand to be touched again. His fingers gently pulled the strap down a little, partially exposing her. Ino whimpered faintly when he placed a soft kiss on her chest and then took her nipple into his mouth, sucking it gently and flicking the very tip with his tongue.

The whole experience was unlike anything she had ever dreamed-she had always imaged her first time would be with Sasuke- and everything was going perfectly. If only she could see his member, she would know what to expect when he went inside of her. From what she could feel through his pants it had to be a least average size. The stories of it hurting the first time didn't scare her. She just wanted to know how much it was going to hurt. She had never gone this far with a guy and felt that saving herself for Neji was more than worth the wait.

With each passing minute, Neji was becoming more deeply entranced in their activity. Now it was time to pull out her wild card…and his manhood. Direct contact was more than likely to best way to get him hard. She rolled over made her way on top again, getting a little rougher than before. He made the mistake of letting his mind drift and he didn't notice her once again fumbling around his pants with her fingers. But he snapped out of his trance when he felt her tug hard at them. He jumped up in an effort to stop her, but it was too late. She had gotten his pants low enough to expose what he had been trying to keep her from finding.

"What the hell?" Ino's eyes nearly jumped out of her head when saw it. She pointed at him with her finger shaking in shock. "How…how…" Neji jumped back. He almost fell off the couch when he panicked. He struggled while getting his pants back up, too embarrassed to look at her.

"You need to go." Neji pick up both of their shirts, tossed Ino her shirt, and slipped into his.

Ino quickly put hers back on and fastened the buttons. This was hard to do since she was still trembling after seeing what she just saw. Neji was pacing around the room continuously asking himself how could he have let things get this far. "Neji," Ino got off the couch and grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Just go." Neji went to the front door and held it open. Without another word, Ino nervously got up and went out the door with her hand covering her face. She made it a few feet away from his house when she heard him coming up behind her.

"Wait." Neji caught up to her. "I'll walk you home." He took her by the hand and led her down the path outside the Hyuuga gates.

"It's okay. I over reacted." Ino said in her efforts to comfort him. "I promise I won't say anything else about it." Neji didn't answer. They didn't say another word for the rest of the trip.

They arrived at Ino's house, not feeling any better. Neji's head was hanging in shame and Ino stepped back a little, waiting for him to say something. She spoke up after a lengthy silence. "Does this mean that you'll never be able…?

"I don't know." He interrupted with the same coldness in his voice that he had before they started dating. He raised his head and stepped closer to her wrapping his arms around her waist and holding in a tight embrace. "Your scent." He whispered. "It's sweet." They held each other for a few minutes and he slid his arms from around her. He left her standing there as he made his way back home, not even turning his head back to give her one last look.

The next day, while Ino was working in the flower shop, Sakura came in to get all of the details. "So how'd it go?" she asked.

"Shut up and put on a damn dress! We're going out tonight." Ino slammed her watering can on the counter and stormed into the back room.

That night in the restaurant Ino speared at all of her food with her chopsticks, she barked at the waiter for being late with their food, and drank sake by the gallon. In one instance Sakura mentioned to the waiter that this was their first time at the restaurant. When the waiter asked Ino if her first experience was pleasurable, Ino responded with a loud "Fuck you!" and guzzled down more sake. Sakura sat back with her mouth shut, not daring to ask Ino what happened the night before.

Neji and Ino would continue dating for a little while after, their next date being under the meditating tree, but they never meditated. He lay on the ground with her next to him, her head resting on his chest. It was as if they were trying to enjoy the little time that they had left. He kissed less often in public after that, and the number of times they saw each other gradually decreased until they ended altogether. Ino was upset, but the pain wouldn't last long. Not long after that, the first man that she ever fell in love with would return to the village.

(End Flashback)

"I don't believe what I just heard." Sakura said. "I have a feeling that you're not telling me everything that happened. You would not just call it quits and walk out like that… there's a huge gap in your story."

"What gap?" Ino asked, "I told you everything."

"So what you're saying is, you saw something that freaked you out and it hurt his dignity? I don't think your night with him ended that way. You know I'm going to find out eventually."

"Honest. That's the way it happened." Ino answered. Her voice was a little shaky. Recalling this memory had an effect on her, almost like she was reliving her episode with Neji all over again.

Sakura offered a comforting hand on Ino's shoulder. The first true love is always the hardest to get over even if both members had since moved on (albeit with one's own cousin and the object of someone else's desires). Sakura, in spite of everything Ino told her didn't fully understand what happened that night but she had an educated guess. "Let me get this straight. The two of you broke up because he's not well endowed?"

"Well…No! It's because-" Ino gave Sakura a sharp look. She was on the verge of breaking her promise to Neji and she had to watch what she said. Instead she provided Sakura with the half-truth. "I know it seems like we didn't last because he was too self-conscious about what happened, but I actually think it was because his family thought I was interfering with his duties as a ninja and his commitment to the Hyuuga main house."

Sakura had a feeling that that event was what put the rift in her relationship with Neji. From what she remembered, neither of them said anything about that night and things went okay for a little while after, but they weren't the same. From what she had gathered from Ino, a combination of the Hyuuga pride being severely injured and interference from Neji's family was what put the brakes on the two of them.

"Well, you two were still a nice couple." Sakura playfully shook Ino's shoulder.

Ino's body moved rhythmically to Sakura's movement on her shoulder until she gently knocked her hand off. Her mood brightened when a new thought raced into her head, pushing out the bad memory of herself and Neji. "But Sasuke and I are nicer, right?"

"Rrrriiiight…" Sakura had to force that answer out of her mouth and the muscle-straining smile that went along with it practically made her jaw cramp.

"Can I tell you something?" Ino came closer to Sakura's head. She cupped her hand between her mouth and Sakura's ear and whispered softly "You know, I've always thought the same about you and Naruto."

"We were NEVER a couple!" Sakura's body jolted away from Ino.

"Okay, okay." Something hit Ino. She pondered for a few moments and then moved a safe distance from Sakura. What she was going to say next was more than likely going to set Sakura off and she didn't want to be anywhere near her potentially swinging fists. "But what about now? He's gotten hotter over the years and you're single and available. He's also really compassionate and a top ninja"

"If you think he's so great, then YOU date him!"

"Hel-lo! Married!" Ino held up her hand to show off her ring finger. "Besides, you know he still loves you after all these years."

"Will you give it a rest? He needs to grow up some more." Sakura had enough with Ino constantly referring to her and Naruto in the same sentence. Naruto was and still is a really good friend, but that's all he was. A friend. True, they dated for a while, but she never considered him her boyfriend and that was a long time ago. Presently, she had no intention of being with Naruto or anyone else for that matter except…

In Sakura's peripheral vision she could see Neji signaling to the waiter that he was finished eating and was ready for the check. After he paid his bill, he got out of his chair was ambled by the table where Sakura and Ino were sitting. The girls, taking notice of him, had to fight the impulse to look at him when came dangerously close to their table.

The two sat completely motionless when he walked by, both wanting, but at the time not wanting to know what Neji was up to. He walked by the table, not looking at the two, but slowing his pace as he walked a few steps past them. When he made it a little further past the table, he stood still without turning around and spoke.

"Ino," he paused. "Come with me." He then resumed walking towards the entrance just as mysteriously as he came.

"What do I do?" Ino looked at Sakura.

"Go with him I guess." Sakura shrugged.

Ino's skin was now brighter than any shade of red Sakura had ever seen. She sat still, paralyzed with uncertainty her eyes not once blinking. Sakura, on the brink of madness, darted her head between the two, wondering if Ino was going to do as she was told. All suspicions about Neji and Ino were confirmed. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was something going on between the two. This was the perfect time to put her skills as a ninja spy to use.

This was too good to miss!


End file.
